Central opens with softball sweep in Illinois
EDWARDSVILLE, ILL.- It’s only the start but it’s the start the Central College softball team needed, getting a sweep of its breezy season-opening twinbill Saturday in Illinois.
Second baseman Haley Bach (junior, Council Bluffs, Lewis Central HS) failed to reach base in the opener yet scored the winning run on an eighth-inning tiebreaker in a 4-3 win over the University of Chicago in chilly temperatures. Then pitcher Sydni Huisman (5th-year, Treynor) threw four shutout innings in a 6-2 victory over Monmouth College (Ill.).
“It feels good,” coach George Wares said, as he launched his 40th season. “We’re 2-0 with a quality win. But there is a laundry list of things we need to do better.”
Pitcher Emma Beck (sophomore, Holland, Grundy Center HS) struck out eight of the first 12 Chicago hitters. She was replaced by Morgan Schaben (5th-year, Portsmouth, Harlan HS) in the fifth inning but re-entered the game after Chicago tied the game 3-3 in the seventh. She retired the side in order in the top of the eighth. Bach was placed on second base because of the tiebreaker to start the frame and moved to third on an infield hit by center fielder Emma Johnson (5th-year, Davenport, Assumption HS). Johnson then broke for second base to draw a throw and Bach scampered home for a walk-off double steal.
Third baseman Franie Burnett (senior, Ankeny, Centennial HS) had two hits, stole three bases and scored a run while freshman catcher Rylee Dunkin (Hamilton, Twin Cedars HS) had two hits, two steals and an RBI in her collegiate debut. First baseman Megan Stuhr (senior, Sigourney) also had an RBI hit and scored a run.
Beck surrendered two runs on five hits with nine strikeouts and three walks over 5.1 innings.
Burnett singled, stole a base and scored on a Stuhr single to get the Dutch started in the first inning against Monmouth. Burnett had two hits in the game. Johnson walked three times and left fielder Megan Doty (5th-year, Grinnell) had two hits and an RBI. Bach and right fielder Mariah Parton (sophomore, Ankeny) also had RBI hits. Central had 10 hits in the game.
Huisman scattered three hits while fanning three and walking two in four innings to get the win. Schaben allowed one run in two innings’ work while Chloe Dougherty (junior, Alleman, North Polk HS) threw the final frame, giving up a run on one hit and a hit batter.
“Our defense was solid,” Wares said. “We had one error (on the day). The only area where we were rusty was we walked quite a few hitters (10, with three hit batters). There were a lot of 1-0 counts that went to 2-0 and 2-1 counts that went to 3-1, so a lot to clean up there.”
But getting two early games in should facilitate improvement in upcoming workouts.
“I think the corrections we want to make are going to make more sense to the players because they’ve seen it in game situations,” Wares said.
Central, ranked No. 21 in the preseason NFCA Division III Top 25 Coaches’ Poll, continues venturing south with a trip to the NFCA Division III Leadoff Classic for six games next Friday through Sunday at Columbus, Georgia. The event features 24 of the nation’s top Division III squads. First played in 2001, it’s the 10th time the classic has been contested and the Dutch have participated in each one, most recently in 2021. Central has posted a 30-23 overall mark against the elite field after going 1-5 in 2021 when the Dutch lost Huisman to injury moments before the first game. Central opens this year’s Leadoff slate meeting Roanoke College (Va.) at 3:30 p.m. (Eastern Time) Friday and DePauw University (Ind.) at 5:30 p.m. KRLS-FM (92.1) radio will broadcast all six Central games with “the Voice of the Dutch” Trevor Castle calling the action. The broadcasts can also be accessed via knia.krls.com.
“It’s an incredible opportunity to see great teams,” Wares said. “Whoever the worst team is that we’ll see in six games is still going to be very good. We’re going to have a three-day challenge and hopefully we can build off of this.”
