TUCSON, ARIZ.—It wasn't a perfect finish but a successful one for the Central College softball team which closed its 16-game slate in the Tucson Invitational Games with a split of two contests Sunday.

The Dutch (13-3) rallied to tie Wis.-La Crosse but tumbled in extra innings, 3-2, before overwhelming Hamline University (Minn.) for the third straight day, 11-2 in five innings.

The extended trip answered many of the questions veteran coach George Wares had about this year's club, and most of those answers were favorable. Topping that list is the play of new center fielder and leadoff hitter Sara Tallman (freshman, Pella).

The former high school all-stater was 6-for-6 at the plate Sunday and walked twice, reaching base in all eight of her plate appearances. Her batting average has rocketed to .442.

"She's doing what we thought she'd do, probably to an even higher level," Wares said. "She's reading he defense, picking that up a lot quicker. Early on, she was strictly bunt, bunt, bunt. But now that she can slap it through, that completely changes how defenses have to play her. We need to work a little more with her as a stolen base threat, but she's doing well there and she's playing a good center field as well."

But a second straight loss to Wis.-La Crosse (14-3) was nonetheless disappointing. Unlike Saturday's 10-4 setback, Sunday's contest was competitive, albeit with no better result. The Dutch still had to overcome some fielding miscues as Wis.-La Crosse took a 2-0 lead and, offensively, Central failed to capitalize on two hits, a walk and an error in the third inning, loading the bases with one out but coming away empty.

Yet the Dutch struck quickly in the fifth when freshman third baseman Amanda Sigulas (Morton, Ill.) launched her first collegiate home run, a towering two-run shot to left field, also scoring the leadoff hitter, Tallman, who was 4-for-4 in the game, more than half of Central's seven hits. Sigulas had two hits and second baseman Paige Dickel (junior, Norwalk) had the other.

"It was a good game," Wares said. "We know why we lost. We left too many people on base. We needed more quality at-bats. That was kind of the difference between us (in the two games). They got some timely hits and we didn't. And we made some costly mistakes.

"But I'm glad we're having these kinds of games right now. They tell us what we need to work on."

Wares again saw much he liked individually. Pitcher Mariah Fritz (sophomore, Tama, East Marshall HS) had her longest outing of the young season, throwing 7.1 innings in dropping to 4-1. She allowed one earned run with seven hits, walking three and striking out three.

"She pitched well," Wares said, while noting that she was frustrated about a bad pitch on the game-winning hit. "She threw 122 pitches, almost eight innings. I think we definitely have another pitcher for our staff."

The at-bats were better against a solid Hamline club picked for an upper-division finish in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics Conference race. The Dutch scored in every inning, scoring 11 runs on 12 hits in five frames. Sigulas had an RBI hit in a two-run first, pinch-runner Kendra Sexton (sophomore, Danbury, Maple Valley-Anthon Oto HS) stole a run in the second, and left fielder Tabitha Taylor (junior, Grimes, Dallas Center-Grimes HS) and Dickel had run-scoring hits in a three-run third. Sigulas singled home another run in the fourth and pitcher Karly Olson (senior, Winterset) had a two-run hit. A two-run hit by shortstop Emily Wilson (sophomore, Bondurant, Bondurant-Farrar HS) completed the scoring in the fifth inning. Tallman, Sigulas and catcher Kylie Olson (sophomore, Mapleton, Minn., Maple River HS) each had two hits.
Olson (4-2) gave up two runs on five hits in five innings, with no walks and three strikeouts.

Sigulas is another player catching Wares' eye as she continued to fill in at third base for injured Lauren Bagby (sophomore, Norwalk) who sat out again Sunday. She's expected back next weekend, but Sigulas has forced her way into the lineup somewhere.

"She just keeps getting better and better," Wares said. "She's probably not going to end up being our third baseman. It's kind of unfair to her that we're even playing her there because she's never played there before. But she's swinging it too well to not play somewhere. We'll just have to figure that out."

Another player who wasn't necessarily expected to see extensive action, Kylie Olson, again impressed Wares Sunday. She prevented a run by tagging out a baserunner at the plate, hanging tightly onto the ball despite taking a hard shot as the bill of the baserunner's helmet caused cuts in her face. She was on the ground for several minutes but remained in the game.

"That says a lot about her toughness," Wares said.

The play was well executed defensively, Wares said, as right fielder Sarah Bowen (senior, New Sharon, North Mahaska HS) fielded a base hit and fired to the cutoff, Dickel, who threw a strike to Olson at the plate.

"That was a great play," he said. "They did it exactly like you draw it up."

Central returns home Monday, taking at least two days off and possibly three, Wares said, in recovering from the nine-day, 16-game stretch.

"We're happy with where we are," he said. "It's always nice to get that last one."

The Dutch are slated to make their home season debut Saturday in the Central Classic against some top regional foes. Central takes on Westminster College (Mo.) at 11 a.m. Saturday with Bethel University (Minn.) at 4 p.m. next Sunday the Dutch meet the College of St. Benedict (Minn.) at 2 p.m. and Westminster at 4 p.m.

Bethel is the only weekend foe also on last year's schedule. The Dutch split a doubleheader with the Royals in season-opening indoor contests in Rochester, Minn. Bethel is 4-8 following a spring break trip to Florida.  Westminster still has two games Tuesday in South Carolina and stands 5-9 while St. Benedict is 11-3.

"It'll be a good level of competition," Wares said.

Teams will also be in action over the two days at the new Pella Sports Park at 393 Baseline Drive on the east side of Pella.
Video webcasts and live stats for all four Central games will be available through the Dutch athletics website at athletics.central.edu.