Central bench comes through in softball sweep
Central College
TUCSON, ARIZ.—Displaying some depth, the Central College softball team used most of its roster in subduing Augsburg (Minn.) 7-3 and Dickinson (Pa.) 4-0 Sunday.
Coach George Wares was able to rest No. 1 pitcher Kiley Lythberg (junior, Mount Prospect, Ill.) while some other regulars saw limited action.
“We were pretty committed to throwing throwing Kiley today and we wanted to get (first baseman) Katie Tenboer (senior, Morrison, Ill.) out pretty early. And we were able to rest some other people. We wanted to win but we’ve got a tough week. If you don’t rest people, you’ll pay for it later, if not this week then down the road.”
Rhianna Fleetwood (sophomore, Sycamore, Ill.) and Brie Haycraft (freshman, Eldridge, North Scott HS) shared the pitching duties in both games and took advantage of the opportunity. Fleetwood threw the first four innings of both games and picked up two wins while Haycraft earned two saves with six innings of relief.
“I thought they got progressively better,” Wares said. “Clearly both were better than they were on day one (Friday).”
Fleetwood surrendered eight hits and two runs in eight innings with eight strikeouts. Haycraft yielded eight hits and one run while fanning four in six frames.
Central (4-2) struck early, with five runs in the first inning against Augsburg and three against Dickinson. Catcher Kyrie Hale (junior, Lee’s Summit, Mo., West HS) and pinch-hitter Rachael Everingham (junior, Georgetown, Ill., Georgetown-Ridge Farm HS) each had two-run singles against Augsburg (3-7). Freshman shortstop Annie Sarcone (Des Moines, Dowling Catholic HS) knocked in two more runs in the fifth.
Against Dickinson (0-3), Tenboer’s two-run hit highlighted the first inning. Right fielder Emily Te Brink (sophomore, Le Mars) singled and scored in the first inning, then tripled and scored in the second.
“The best thing offensively today was our baserunning picked up, which was a nice improvement,” Wares said.
The Dutch stole eight bases in the two games.
Central faces one of its most challenging days on the Arizona trip Monday, taking on 19th-ranked Wis.-La Crosse at 2 p.m. (Iowa time) and La Verne (Calif.) at 4 p.m.
