CEDAR RAPIDS—It was yet another spirited late comeback for the Central College softball team but this time it ended in disappointment with a pair of losses at Coe College Friday, 5-4 and 9-0 in five innings.
           
Trailing 4-1 entering the seventh inning of the opener, the Dutch (18-8 overall, 8-4 American Rivers) came up big off Coe ace Alyssa Olson. A one-out double by third baseman Lauren Bagby (senior, Norwalk) was followed by a two-run homer from shortstop Daria Parchert (sophomore, Illinois City, Ill., Rockridge HS), her first of the year. First baseman Amanda Sigulas (junior, Morton, Ill.) blooped a single to right and catcher Kylie Olson (senior, Mapleton, Minn., Maple River HS) rocketed a double to right-center, allowing the Dutch to tie the game on a force out. Designated player Lauren Birt (freshman, Ankeny, Centennial HS) was inches away from an extra-base hit that would have put the Dutch on top but was retired.
           
Coe (30-7 overall, 10-4 conference) won it with two outs in the bottom of the seventh when a hard grounder caromed off the foot of pitcher Mariah Fritz (senior, Tama, East Marshall HS) into the outfield following a walk and an infield hit.

"We just weren't good enough," coach George Wares said. "We got in a hole in the first game, but we really stayed with it like we have so much this year. We had really good at-bats and Birt was an eyelash away from giving us a lead. You can't fault Mariah (Fritz) but when you tie it, then go into the bottom of the seventh and walk the first batter, it makes it tough. I would have liked to have gone to the eighth inning."
           
Fritz (12-7) gave up five earned runs on nine hits with six walks and two strikeouts in 6.2 innings. Fritz, who pitched both ends of a sweep of the University of Dubuque Tuesday, attempted to throw both ends again Friday, but was lifted in the second inning after allowing four earned runs on three hits with three walks. Lauren Shirley (junior, Queen Creek, Ariz., Seton Catholic HS) followed and was replaced by Danielle Riley (senior, Afton, East Union HS), who threw the final 2.2 innings, allowing three runs on two hits.
 
           
Meanwhile, after being outhit 9-8 in the opener, the Dutch were held hitless.
           
"In the second game, you never know how a team is going to respond after a game like that but that was about as bad as we've come out all year," Wares said. "As good as our approach was in game one, it was not in game two."
           
In addition to the homer, Parchert doubled in the opener. She also dazzled with a leaping grab of a line drive to start the team's 15th double play of the season. Central started the week ranked fifth in the NCAA Division III in double plays.
           
"That was huge," Wares said.
           
And second baseman Kaitlyn Andresen (junior, Davenport, Assumption HS) continued her recent rampage. She had two hits including a first-inning home run, her second.
           
"Andresen was really good," Wares said.
           
Central is off for Easter weekend but returns to action at home Monday, taking on Monmouth College (Ill.) in a non-conference doubleheader at 3 p.m. at the A.N. Kuyper Athletics Complex field. The Scots are 13-15 overall after dropping a doubleheader at No. 4-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University last Monday. Monmouth's twinbill with Westminster College (Mo.) Thursday was cancelled. Central and Monmouth last met in 2009 and the Dutch hold a 3-0 lead in the teams' all-time series. It's the schools' first clash in Pella.
           
Wares said the Dutch need to look forward.

"The game doesn't care about your feelings," he said. "All we can do is come back. We have a lot of opportunities ahead. We still have a chance to finish pretty high in the league and that's what we'll try to do."

 A video webstream and live stats of Monday's games can be accessed throughthe Central athletics website at athletics.central.edu.