Tenboer ignites Central softball explosion
Central College
PELLA—The Central College softball offense had a long fuse Saturday but used a pair of fifth-inning explosions to sweep Wartburg College 10-0 and 10-2 in the Iowa Conference openers for both squads, extending its win streak to 18 games.
First baseman Katie Tenboer (senior, Morrison, Ill.) hammered two homers and drove in five runs in the opener, vaulting into first place on Central’s career home runs list with 19. Central (18-2 overall, 2-0 conference) racked up five runs in the fifth inning after clinging to a 2-0 lead, and Tenboer ended the game in the sixth with a three-run blast, her fifth homer of the season.
In the nightcap Central trailed 2-1 entering the fifth, then erupted for nine runs to end it.
Coach George Wares was confident the bats would eventually come alive in both contests despite slow starts.
“I just thought with where we are offensively right now that it was just a matter of time before we’d score some runs,” Wares said.
Tenboer became the fourth player in Central history to homer twice in a game, matching Christi Van Werden (1991), Donell Hotze (1997) and Missy Voigt (2001). She also topped the career home runs mark of 18 set by Tina Shimak (2004-07). Tenboer is hitting a team-high .471 with 29 runs batted in. She had four hits on the day and was intentionally walked twice, failing to reach base just once.
“Katie’s really swinging the bat,” Wares said. “You’ve got to be really good to beat her.”
Second baseman Angela Davis (junior, West Des Moines, Valley HS) had three hits in the two games, raising her average to .391.
But the day’s most encouraging effort came in the pitching circle as freshman Brie Haycraft (Eldridge, North Scott HS) combined with Rhianna Fleetwood (sophomore, Sycamore, Ill.) to toss a two-hit shutout in the opener. Haycraft (4-1) went 5.1 innings, giving up two hits and two walks while striking out five. Fleetwood retired the final two hitters.
“I’m extremely happy with how Brie pitched,” Wares said. “She put the ball where she needed to put it and she changed speeds well. She can help us a lot. And I was happy that Rhianna (Fleetwood) got a couple of outs and that we got Kyrie Hale (junior, Lee’s Summit, Mo., West HS) an inning behind the plate. We need to have that depth.”
Kiley Lythberg (senior, Mount Prospect, Ill., Prospect HS) threw the nightcap on short rest after pitching eight innings in a pair of non-conference wins Friday. Lythberg (7-1) gave up one earned run on four hits with two walks and five strikeouts in a five-inning complete game Saturday.
After a bit of a defensive meltdown Friday, Central made just one error Saturday. That’s a start, Wares said.
“I’m still going to be pretty harsh in my evaluation,” he said. “The deep fly ball in the first inning (of the second game) should have been caught and obviously there was a line drive that should have been caught. I thought we should have had two shutouts. But overall, I thought we were much better defensively.”
Despite the final scores, Wartburg put up the kind of fight evident in every Iowa Conference game, Wares said.
“It doesn’t matter where you’re picked to finish or where the other team is picked, there are not any easy games in the conference,” he said. “I thought Wartburg came out ready to go and was very intense.”
And the next fight is just three days away as Central plays host to Buena Vista in a twinbill Tuesday at 3 p.m. The Beavers are 8-12 overall and 0-2 in the league after dropping a pair of games at Loras College Saturday.
A live video webstream of Tuesday’s games will be offered on the Central athletics website at www.central.edu/athletics.
