Central, Schulenberg notch home softball sweep
Central College
PELLA — While pitcher Mallory Schulenberg (senior, Kansas City, Mo., St. Pius X HS) may not have considered it a standout performance, she got the results that mattered for the Central College softball team with a pair of important non-conference wins over Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.) Saturday, 5-3 and 9-5.
Schulenberg (6-3) was tagged for 11 hits in going the distance in the opener, but consistently pitched her way out of trouble, limiting Gustavus Adolphus (7-7) to two earned runs. She walked two and struck out five. Then she threw the final 2.2 shutout innings to nail down the second game, allowing just one hit with no walks and two strikeouts.
“Mallory didn’t have her best stuff but she gutted it out,” coach Geoerge Wares said. “Gustavus swings the bat pretty well. I was a little concerned about her pitch count, she threw about 150 total. But I actually thought she was better when she came back in the second game. That’s impressive. I’m not sure she would have been able to do that two years ago. It’s hard to sit that long in colder weather and then come back like that, but she was very good.”
Central was outhit 11-4 in the opener but was efficient, working the count to draw five walks and getting a home run from catcher Katie Canney (senior, Adel, ADM HS). Gusties pitcher Hannah Heacox, making her season debut, is expected to be one of the better hurlers in the region.
“She’s the best we’ve faced all year,” Wares said. “She’s got a legitimate rise ball and she threw it hard. She had us schooled. I was really impressed.”
Consequently, Wares was not surprised that Heacox struck out 13.
“I thought the players remained focused,” he said. “They didn’t get overly frustrated with the strikeouts.”
Meanwhile, the Dutch defense, although far from airtight, got two big outs on relays from the outfield to stymie Gustavus Adolphus rallies.
The Dutch got plenty of help in the second game. They delivered nine hits, drew four walks and capitalized on nine Gustavus Adolphus errors. It was the Gusties’ first outdoor game since a six-game trek to Hawaii Feb. 2-5. The weather wasn’t quite as tropical on the Central campus with a game-time temperature of 37 degrees, although the sun was shining and winds were relatively calm.
Central fell behind 3-0 in the first inning, but answered with three in the bottom of the inning, added a run in the second and broke it open in a five-run fourth when Gustavus committed three errors.
Third baseman Whitney Sowers (senior, Marshalltown) had three hits, scored twice and drove in two runs while second baseman Abbey Strajack (senior, Davenport, Assumption HS) scored three times, reaching on a hit and two walks. She also stole a base, giving her a team-high 15 for the year.
Sowers raised her average to a team-high .462, but Wares was even more encouraged by her glove.
“She made some tremendous defensive plays,” he said. “Some may have looked fairly routine but they were not easy plays. She was taking base hits away. We need that, because we’re not a team that’s going to get nine or 10 strikeouts a game. We need to make plays.”
Freshman center fielder Tabitha Taylor (Grimes, Dallas Center-Grimes HS) continued to open some eyes with two hits and two runs scored. That Taylor was in the starting lineup was unexpected, however. The Dutch were fervently hoping for the return of Paige Heesch (senior, Titonka, WCLT HS), a three-year starter in center field who was sidelined by injury throughout most of the team’s trip to Arizona. She was originally in the lineup Friday but sustained another injury near the end of pregame warmups.
“To lose Paige right before the game was a huge downer, particularly for her but also for the team,” Wares said. “You just feel so badly for her. She really wants to play. She’s one of the best defensive center fielders around and that’s such a big loss for us. We’ll just try to remain optimistic.”
The extent of the injury is uncertain.
Trisha Smith (junior, New Hampton) got the second-game win, giving up four runs—two earned—on three hits while walking two and striking out two, raising her record to 8-1.
“They really couldn’t hit her but she just didn’t throw enough strikes,” Wares said. “When she’s in the zone, she’s really good.”
The bumpy Gustavus defensive performance did not lessen the magnitude of the wins.
“They’re going to win a lot of games,” Wares said of the Gusties. “And this goes down as two very significant wins for us. We needed those after losing a few in Arizona.”
Action continues Saturday in the weekend event, which sees Saint Benedict (Minn.) take on Saint Norbert (Wis.) on Central’s A.N. Kuyper Athletics Complex field at 11 a.m. Central meets Saint Benedict at approximately 1 p.m. and Saint Norbert at 3 p.m. Sunday, it’s Saint Norbert and Saint Scholastica (Minn.) playing at noon, with Central meeting Saint Norbert at 2 p.m. and Saint Scholastica at 4 p.m. Games are also being played in Oskaloosa and Indianola, including the University of Dubuque and No. 10 Simpson College.
None will be easy, Wares said, noting that Simpson had to scramble for a 10-9 win over Saint Benedict Friday before getting a 6-2 victory in the second game.
“Saint Benedict has a very solid pitcher and is really good offensively,” he said. “Saint Norbert will probably win its division in the Midwest Conference and Saint Scholastica is favored to win its league.”
A video webcast and live stats will be available for Central’s games via www.central.edu/athletics or directly at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/central/. KRLS Radio sportscaster Trevor Castle will be providing the play-by-play on the video webcast for the Central-Saint Norbert game Saturday and the Central-Saint Scholastica game Sunday.
