Down 6, Central rallies to open league softball race with huge sweep
PELLA-After they finally escaped the fierce winds that shook the Central College softball team throughout its doubleheader with preseason favorite Coe College Saturday, even longtime Dutch softball fans, who have come to expect the surprising and the improbable, found themselves asking the question.
How did that just happen?
Down 6-0 in the second inning of what had all the looks of a Coe runaway, and still trailing 9-5 in the seventh, the Dutch (15-6 overall, 2-0 American Rivers) somehow emerged with a 10-9 eight-inning walk-off winner, then escaped with a 5-4 victory in the nightcap for a bold start to their conference season.
“I’ve been around this a long time and this is one of those days they’re going to be talking about for a while,” said veteran coach George Wares. “It was just an incredibly gutsy performance by our players.”
Pitcher Sydni Huisman (5th-year, Treynor) was rocked for six runs on six hits in the first two frames, then gamely regained her footing with three scoreless innings. After Central narrowed the gap to 6-5, the Dutch made two errors and surrendered an unearned run in the sixth. Then Huisman yielded two more runs in the seventh before reliever Morgan Schaben (5th-year, Portsmouth, Harlan HS) ended the inning. Still, the game was seemingly out of reach at 9-5.
But back came the Dutch. An RBI single by freshman catcher Rylee Dunkin (Hamilton, Twin Cedars HS), a run-scoring error, then with two outs, a dramatic two-run triple down the right field line by left fielder Megan Doty (5th-year, Grinnell) to send the game into extra innings.
Schaben (4-0) held the Kohawks (15-5 overall, 2-2 conference) scoreless in the top of the eighth. Then center fielder Emma Johnson (5th-year, Davenport, Assumption Catholic HS) singled and eventually dashed home on a walk-off single by first baseman Megan Stuhr (senior, Sigourney).
“Something we’ve been challenging this team on is to show more fight at the plate and then today they did it,” Wares said. “I was just so happy for Megan Stuhr to get that game-winning hit and happy for Megan Doty to come around and start hitting the ball the way she did.”
Doty, Johnson and Dunkin each had three of Central’s 14 hits in the game. Stuhr had two. Doty had three RBIs.
Central rode its momentum with a three-run first inning in the second game. Stuhr had another RBI hit and right fielder Hannah Higgins (sophomore, Macomb, Ill.), who knocked in two runs on two hits in the opener, drove in two more. But the tone was set by holding Coe scoreless in the first inning as well, Wares said.
“(Pitcher) Emma Beck (sophomore, Holland, Grundy Center HS) was important there,” he said. “We haven’t been real good at getting out of the top of the first inning. We’ve been behind a lot and I thought that was important.”
Beck did yield a solo home run in the second inning but the Dutch used their speed to swipe a couple of additional tallies in the second and third. Doty was walked, moved to third on consecutive force-outs, then made a brazen steal of home.
“We have a little sign, we don’t say steal it but we say take a look,” Wares said. “The pitcher wasn’t paying attention and she timed it perfectly.”
And in the third, Dunkin singled with two outs, advanced on an error, stole third and scampered home when the throw got past the third baseman.
“The two insurance runs we got were really good on our players’ part,” Wares said.
Central needed them both as Coe struck for two runs in the fourth inning.
“Coe, it’s hard to bounce back from (the game one loss) but to their credit, they ung around and the next thing you know, they had us on the ropes a little bit with a chance to take the lead,” Wares said.
Schaben entered in relief of Beck in the fourth inning before Beck returned two get the final out of the fifth inning and then finished the game, retiring the heart of the Coe lineup in order in the seventh. Beck (5-4) gave up three runs on two hits and seven walks while striking out five in 5.2 innings. Schaben allowed a run on three hits in 1.1 innings. Central outhit Coe 7-5 in the game.
It all left Central fans a bit dazed, but smiling after one day of what promises to be another frantic league race.
“That’s a typical conference doubleheader,” Wares said. “For us, it’s a huge start.”
Another pivotal conference doubleheader looms Tuesday, with Wartburg College visiting for a 2 p.m. doubleheader at the A.N. Kuyper Athletics Complex softball field. Wartburg is 16-9 overall and 4-0 in the conference after hammering Buena Vista University 14-10 and 13-5 in five innings Saturday at Waverly.
“Wartburg just attacks the ball at the plate,” Wares said. “And they’ve got speed. They’ll challenge us with their running game. It’s another one of those we’re going to have to find a way to score some runs because they’re pretty tough to pitch to.”
