PELLA—A shortage of days off and practice time were visibly evident in a disappointing showing for the Central College softball team Sunday.
The Dutch were playing their 11th game in the past eight days and it all seemed to catch up with them in a 13-5, five-inning stumble against the same University of Dubuque team they swept Saturday afternoon in much crisper fashion, 1-0 and 3-2.
"I give Dubuque credit," coach
George Wares said. "They needed a win to salvage something, kind of like we did against Wartburg when we lost the first two (in a series) and that seems to be the way it's gone in this league. With this new system of (three-game series), it's been difficult for anybody to sweep. We missed an opportunity to put ourselves in a good spot. Dubuque played really well and we didn't do much well at all."
Central, 10-7 overall and 8-5 in American Rivers play, saw things come undone early.
Sydni Huisman (sophomore, Treynor), who sparkled Saturday with a complete-game shutout and a save, was tagged for six runs—four earned--on five hits with a walk before getting pulled in the second inning.
Morgan Schaben (sophomore, Portsmouth, Harlan HS) was out of answers as well, surrendering six earned runs on nine hits over 4.0 innings, walking three. The Dutch duo failed to record a strikeout.
"I think fatigue's part of that," Wares said. "You could tell even in warmups that Sydni was not throwing at the same velocity."
After Dubuque (16-8 overall, 7-7 conference) jumped to a 4-0 lead, Central responded with three runs in the bottom of the first inning before having a runner thrown out at the plate. But the Spartans were relentless, coming back with three runs in the second inning, another in the third, two in the fourth and three in the fifth.
"You fight back and make it 4-3, then you need a shutdown inning and we just didn't have anyone who could do that today," Wares said.
The Dutch defense failed to provide either hurler with a lift.
"We had a couple of defensive lapses—not errors, just where we threw the ball," Wares. "Bottom line when you score five runs in five innings and you're behind, something's not going well."
Much of what Wares saw can be corrected or improved with practice time, he said. But in this most unusual of seasons, the Dutch haven't had a practice since April 9, a critical deficiency for a young team, particularly when missing the steadying presence of all-conference senior shortstop
Daria Parchert (Illinois City, Ill., Rockridge HS), who remains sidelined by injury.
The inexperienced Central lineup did show some signs of life at the plate, perhaps a benefit of so many plate appearances in a short time. Sophomore
Madison Farrington (Marshalltown, East Marshall HS) had a pair of doubles while freshman first baseman
Megan Stuhr (Sigourney) continues to open eyes with two more hits to take over the team batting lead at .432. Another freshman, right fielder
Franie Burnett (Ankeny, Centennial HS) had a hit Sunday and follows at .413.
The Dutch can finally exhale before playing host to Loras College in a Friday conference twinbill at 2 p.m. at the A.N. Kuyper Athletics Complex softball field. The third game of the series is next Sunday at 1 p.m. A video stream and live stats can be accessed through athletics.central.edu.
""We're young and you want to be able to teach some things without having to do it in the middle of a game," Wares said. "We'll take tomorrow off and hopefully get a couple days to iron things out before Loras."
