Central explodes late for softball split
Central College
PELLA — The bats were silent much of the day until the Central College softball team erupted for a six-run frame that brought an early end to game two of a doubleheader split with Gustavus Adolphus College (Minn.) on another wind-swept afternoon Sunday.
Gusties pitcher Heather Heacox no-hit Central for the first four innings of a 6-2 decision in the opener, settling for a three-hitter with 12 srikeouts and two walks. The No. 20-rated Dutch (14-8) rebounded with an 8-0 shutout in the five-inning nightcap.
Temperatures soared nearly 40 degrees from Saturday, reaching 81 degrees, and the winds shifted direction to the southwest, but were equally fierce, gusting to 35 mph.
Just as in Saturday’s split with No. 6 Washington-St. Louis, Central was stymied by the opponent’s top pitcher before recovering in the next game.
“(Heacox) was really good,” coach George Wares said. “She’s the best pitcher we’ve faced this year, and we’ve faced some good ones.
“But it also just shows the immaturity we have right now. To beat a pitcher like that, you have to have a really good approach at the plate and get some breaks. We’re not there yet.”
Early defensive lapses were again costly as Gustavus (10-6) broke on top with two unearned fourth-inning runs.
“It’s hard to get down a couple of runs to a pitcher like that,” Wares said.
Central finally got on the board in the sixth inning as a Paige Schreiner (senior, Ottumwa) double highlighted a two-run frame. Schreiner, a shortstop, also had both of Central’s walks in the game.
Wares pulled pitcher Karly Olson (junior, Winterset) after the Gusties took the lead in the fourth so that she could come back and pitch the second game. After yielding three hits in four innings with three strikeouts and two walks in the opener, Olson (8-8) delivered a one-hit shutout. She walked two and struck out six in five innings.
“She only gave up four hits in nine innings,” Wares noted. “That’s a pretty impressive day for her. We need her to stay at that level and we need someone else to step up as well.”
Annie DeVries (sophomore, Eldridge, North Scott HS) threw the final three innings of the first game, allowing four runs—but only one earned run—on five hits.
Central jumped ahead in the second game with a two-run second inning sparked by Olson’s leadoff double down the right-field line. The Dutch closed it out with six hits and a Gustavus error in the fifth inning. Pinch-hitter Sadie Baugher (freshman, Eddyville, Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont HS) and Olson had RBI hits and left fielder Tabitha Taylor (sophomore, Grimes, Dallas Center-Grimes HS) ended with a three-run double to right-center.
“I thought we did a good job of adjusting to the change in velocity from the first game,” Wares said.
Yet he’d like to see the Dutch swinging it better in both games of a twinbill.
“We’ve got to find a way to beat the aces,” Wares said. “That’s what we’re searching for.
“But this team is going through a lot right now. They’ve had back-to-back days of getting beat badly in the opener yet they’ve been able to come right back and win the next one. I’m going to view that as encouraging.”
Wares made one defensive switch this weekend from the team’s spring break action in early March, moving Baugher to designated player and putting freshman Lauren Bagby (Norwalk) at third base. Both have only limited experience at the position and have performed capably, Wares said.
“We just feel like Lauren might have a notch better upside defensively,” he said. “Yet we think Sadie has good upside as well. And she had a key base-hit for us today.”
Central, which had an unusual 20-day layoff prior to Saturday’s action, now faces a flurry of games as the 26-day Iowa Conference season starts Tuesday with a pivotal opening twinbill against high-powered Simpson College. The Storm is 21-4 and boasts a .330 team batting average. Starting pitcher Abbie Van Vleet is 9-1 with a 1.60 earned run average while No. 2 hurler Riley Fisher is 10-0 with a 1.67 ERA.
The doubleheader starts at 3 p.m. at Central’s A.N. Kuyper Athletics Complex field. An audio webcast featuring Trevor Castle of KRLS Radio and live stats will be available through the Central athletics website at www.central.edu/athletics.
It will be time for Central’s young roster to accelerate the growth process.
“It’s been a roller-coaster,” Wares said. “We have moments where you think, wow, we can do this, and then we have moments where you think we’re still too young. We’re just looking for that consistency. If you give a team like Simpson four or five outs, the game is over. But we’re hoping we learned enough this weekend to avoid that.”
