TUCSON, ARIZ.—Junior Sarah Sponder (Sioux City, East High School) strengthened her early hold on a starting spot in bold fashion with a pair of home runs, including a grand slam, in Central College's 16-10 softball win over Saint Mary's College (Ind.) in a season-opening scorefest Monday.
           
But the No. 15-rated Dutch bats were later silenced in an 8-0, five-inning loss to 2018 NCAA Division III finalist Case Western Reserve University (Ohio).
           
It was the first day of action in the Tucson Invitational Games for Central (1-1), which is slated to play 16 games in 10 days.
           
Sponder is getting the first look as Central's designated player after two seasons as a pinch-hitter and back-up catcher. She responded with a solo blast to left field in the second inning, then a dramatic grand slam in a six-run sixth inning that gave the Dutch their final victory margin. She had a career-high five RBIs in the game and is the ninth Central player ever to hit two homers in a game. Central had trailed 9-3 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning, but responded with a seven-run outburst in the bottom of the frame. Saint Mary's (0-5) tied it in the top of the fifth before pitcher Mariah Fritz (senior, Tama, East Marshall HS) entered in relief of starter Danielle Riley (senior, Afton, East Union HS).
           
Fritz wriggled out of a two-on, one-out jam in the sixth, and went on to record the win. She allowed three hits in 2.2 innings with a walk and a strikeout.
           
Fritz got a big assist from center fielder Sara Tallman (junior, Pella), who made an over-the-shoulder grab as she sprinted towards the right-center field fence, preventing two runs from scoring. A two-time all-region pick and member of the NFCA watch list for player of the year honors, Tallman was 5-for-5 at the plate as well.
           
"That was a great catch," coach George Wares said. "With Sara you almost start taking plays like that for granted, but it was an over-the-top defensive play."
           
Third baseman Lauren Bagby (senior, Norwalk) and second baseman Kaitlyn Andresen (junior, Davenport, Assumption HS) each had three hits as Central pounded out 19 hits in the game.
           
Riley had a rocky debut as Central's No. 2 starter, surrendering 10 runs on 11 hits with three walks. But she was hampered by three Dutch errors.
           
"I actually thought Danielle threw relatively well but the team had some what I hope are uncharacteristic miscues," Wares said.
           
The veteran coach was even less enthused by what he saw defensively against Case Western Reserve (1-2), although the Dutch were charged with only one error.
           
The Spartans jumped on Fritz for four runs in the first and closed it out with four more in the fifth inning. Central was limited to two hits. Fritz was tagged for eight runs on 11 hits in 4.1 innings with a walk and a strikeout.
           
"At this point, Case Western Reserve is a better team than we are," Wares said. "Give them a lot of credit. Their pitching is solid and they swing the bats well. They were in the national tournament for a reason last year. But we gave them so many extra opportunities. And the most concerning thing is that is that in the areas we thought we'd be really good, we had a rough day."
           
A productive Central offense isn't going to be enough for the Dutch to be successful, Wares said.
           
"Offense is not going to be our issue, long term," Wares said. "But Central softball has always been built around pitching and defense and we didn't play nearly well enough on defense today."
           
Yet Wares saw plenty of encouraging signs, most notably the ability to claw back from the early six-run deficit.
           
"I thought (catcher) Kiley Olson (senior, Mapleton, Minn., Maple River HS) was really good," he said. "She showed some improvement behind the plate. Sarah Sponder was obviously really good in the first game and even her at-bats in the second game were pretty solid. And Lauren Birt (freshman, Ankeny, Centennial HS) had a pinch-running opportunity in the first game and took advantage of that with a really good slide-by."
           
Central is slated to play Dickinson (Pa.) Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. (Central Time) and former Iowa Conference rival Cornell College at 8 p.m. An audio webcast of the Dickinson game will be offered via www.kniakrls.com or directly at rdo.to/krls3. Cornell is 5-2 while Dickinson headed into Monday's action at 2-0.
           
"We have to figure out ways to improve tomorrow against two good teams," Wares said.