Softball tourney veterans at Central for NCAA regional
Central College
PELLA — A quartet of postseason veterans converge this weekend when Central College plays host to the NCAA Division III Pella, Iowa Softball Regional.
Top seed Central College (32-8) tackles the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) (34-9) at 3:30 p.m. Friday at the A.N. Kuyper Athletics Complex softball field in the three-day, double-elimination, four-team tourney. At 1 p.m., Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.) (26-12) meets Iowa Conference rival Coe College (29-9).
The four teams have a combined 83 NCAA tournament appearances and 227 playoff wins, along with six national titles—four from Central (1988, 1991, 1993, 2003) and two from St. Thomas (2004, 2005). Central is making its 28th appearance, matching Ithaca (N.Y.) for the most in Division III history, and has a 92-54 tourney mark. Central’s 92 NCAA tournament wins are six shy of the Division III record held by the College of New Jersey.
St. Thomas is in the tournament for the 25th time with Coe and Washington-St. Louis each receiving a 15th berth.
In the National Fastpitch Coaches Association’s coaches’ poll, Central is ranked No. 9, with St. Thomas at No. 23 and Coe at No. 25.
“It’s a pretty stacked regional,” hall of fame coach George Wares said. “But it’s supposed to be at this point. We’re excited to be in and excited about the teams coming here.”
Wares said it’s tough to pick a winner.
“It’s wide open,” he said. “I think every coach coming here would say that. It’s what you do this particular weekend—you play it a different weekend and you might get a different winner. If all four teams play well, it will probably be the most fan-friendly regional in the country.”
Regional info—The regional tourney continues Saturday and Sunday with the champ moving on to face the winner of this weekend’s Decorah, Iowa Regional in a two-team, double-elimination super regional May 19-20. The eight super regional champs meet for the national finals May 25-30 at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Ticket prices for this weekend’s regional are $6 for adults, $4 for senior citizens, $3 for students and children under 12, and free for children under 2. An all-session pass is $15. Tickets will be available at the gate.
A video webcast and live stats for all tournament games will be available through the Central athletics website at athletics.central.edu or directly at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/central/. Central’s games will also be broadcast on KRLS-FM (92.1) and via www.kniakrls.com with the voice of the Dutch, Trevor Castle.
Tournament-tested—The three visiting clubs have each seen NCAA tournament action in Pella before. It’s the fifth regional trip to Pella for Washington-St. Louis.
Central is hosting a regional for the 13th time. The Dutch also hosted a super regional in 2015 as well as the 1992 national finals.
They also have a long history with St. Thomas. The squads met in Pella in 1986, when Central made its first NCAA appearance, coming from behind to win the regional crown 4-1 on a walk-off grand slam by Laurie Sutten. They’ve squared off in six regionals (1986, 1988, 1997, 2002, 2004, 2013), four of which were in Pella. Central holds a 9-5 edge over the Tommies in tourney play and leads the teams’ series 14-9 overall.
St. Thomas won the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title for the 12th time in 14 years but dropped the league tournament crown last weekend to St. Catherine (Minn.). The Tommies excelled despite losing pitching ace Kierstin Anderson-Glass to injury prior to the season. She was 30-5 last year as a freshman. But senior Jessica Eppenberger and junior Sammy Hogan are both 17-4. Senior center fielder Megan Bush tops the offensive charts with a .407 mark while sophomore first baseman Chase Shortly is hitting .386 with a team-leading 20 doubles, four homers and 38 RBI.
“Obviously, they’re good,” Wares said. “They always are. (Coach John Tschida) does a marvelous job with that program.
“We’ve had many battles and I don’t think this will be any different. They swing the bat well, they’re very aggressive on the bases and their pitching is obviously good enough to win 34 games.”
Central and Coe have met in five regionals, including three in Pella, with Coe holding a 5-2 tourney advantage. The Dutch lead the all-time series 30-21. The teams split a league doubleheader in Cedar Rapids April 15 with the Dutch winning 2-0 before tumbling 10-2 in five innings. Kohawks sophomore outfielder/pitcher Maddy Ryan is hitting .371 while sophomore second baseman Haley Jones has nine homers and 36 RBI.
Central and Washington-St. Louis faced each other in two regionals, including one in Pella, with the Dutch holding a 2-1 tourney advantage and lead the all-time series 11-4.
Bears junior pitcher Anna McKee is a foundational player, posting a 16-3 record with a 1.72 ERA while striking out 152 batters. Senior outfielder Hannah Mehrle is hitting .426 with 16 doubles and 43 RBI.
Winngest coach–Wares, in his 33rd season, is the winningest coach in Division III history with a 1,096-370-3 record (.747). He was inducted into the NFCA Hall of Fame in 2007. His teams have finished in the national top eight 13 times, with 14 regional titles, including 2015. Central has won or shared 12 conference crowns. The Dutch missed last year’s NCAA field but are participating for the sixth time in the past seven seasons.
Pitching, defense and small ball—The winning strategy hasn’t wavered for Wares, who values the consistency that strong pitching and defense provide. Senior Karly Olson (Winterset) was named the conference pitcher of the year Tuesday, posting a stingy 0.66 earned run average in league games. She’s 16-4 overall with a 1.76 ERA, walking 35 batters and striking out 97. The pitching staff was bolstered by sophomore transfer Mariah Fritz (Tama, East Marshall HS) who’s 10-4 with a 1.46 ERA. Annie DeVries (junior, Eldridge, North Scott HS) is 6-0 with a 3.77 ERA.
Olson received the conference pitcher of the week award three times and posted a 32-inning consecutive scoreless innings streak.
“We’ve been good all year with Annie giving us some innings and Mariah, obviously, has allowed us to not use Karly as much as we had to last year,” Wares said. “It’s nice going into a regional with them. It’s hard to win without depth in the rotation. To have another pitcher or two you can go to is important. We’re not going to be afraid to put any of them in the game if we need to.”
Central’s defense has compiled a .959 fielding percentage and the speed-based offense topped the 100-stolen base mark for the 19th time since 1990. The Dutch hold a lopsided 101-20 stolen base advantage over opponents. Freshman center fielder Sara Tallman (Pella) has a team-high 24 thefts.
Tallman is also the team’s top hitter with a .426 mark. Another newcomer, sophomore transfer shortstop Emily Wilson (Bondurant, Bondurant-Farrar HS), is hitting .377 with a team-high four homers, 11 doubles and 33 RBI. Left fielder Tabitha Taylor (junior, Grimes, Dallas Center-Grimes HS) is hitting .364 with 10 doubles and 26 RBI, along with a team-high 17 walks and 12 stolen bases. Olson is hitting .358 with 32 RBI, second baseman Paige Dickel (junior, Norwalk) is batting .340 with three homers and 21 RBI while first baseman Abbie Voas (senior, Chanhassen, Minn.) is hitting .325 with 21 RBI.
Tallman joined Olson on the all-conference first team while Dickel was a second-team honoree. Fritz received honorable mention.
Taylor was tabbed the Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division III player of the week Wednesday after hitting .545 in four games last week, getting six hits along with three walks for a .645 on-base percentage.
Central, which placed second in the powerful Iowa Conference behind No. 3-ranked Luther College, was second in last weekend’s league tournament at Decorah as well, blanking Loras College 8-0 in six innings before getting outlasted by Luther in the title game, 4-3 in nine innings.
Tests beyond the tournament—It’s finals week at Central so the Dutch are putting the focus on academics prior to the regional, which will overlap Saturday’s commencement ceremonies in adjacent H.S. Kuyper Fieldhouse. The Dutch didn’t practice Sunday or Monday and were forced to go with some unusual practice times the rest of the week because of exams.
“We practice when we can,” Wares said. “It’s not so much when we practice it’s about the intensity that we bring and trying to get things accomplished when we do practice.”
And enjoy the ride—Maintaining intensity doesn’t have to come at the expense of the Dutch having fun. That’s been a key to Central’s success, Wares said.
“We tell the players, ‘Be really excited. Enjoy it,’” he said. “’But let’s also recognize that we have an opportunity to keep playing longer than just this weekend.’”
2017 NCAA Division III Softball Championships
Pella, Iowa Regional
Friday, May 12
Game 1 1 p.m. Washington-St. Louis (Mo.) (26-12) vs. Coe (29-9)
Game 2 3:30 p.m. St. Thomas (Minn.) (34-9) vs. Central (32-8)
Saturday, May 13
Game 3 11 a.m. Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2
Game 4 1:30 p.m. Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2
Game 5 4 p.m. Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3
Sunday, May 14
Game 6 1 p.m. Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5
Game 7 3:30 p.m. Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6 (if necessary)
