STORM LAKE—Even after suffering four defeats in just over 24 hours, coach George Wares admired the effort from his Central College softball team on a grueling road trip Wednesday.
           
The Dutch (17-15 overall, 5-7 American Rivers), who dropped a pair of hard-fought one-run decisions at Nebraska Wesleyan University Tuesday, endured a long rainy drive to Storm Lake Wednesday, only to sustain 17-13 and 4-2 losses to Buena Vista University.
           
"I feel like we're playing better than we have at any point this season but we're just not getting the results," Wares said.
           
Central used four pitchers in the opener but couldn't find an answer even after the Dutch roared back from a 10-5 sixth-inning deficit to tie it at 10-10. Buena Vista responded in a big way, putting up seven runs in the bottom of the inning. Still, Central scratched out three more runs in the seventh before BV closed it out.
           
"To make that comeback says a lot," Wares said. "But we just couldn't get the shutdown."
           
Pitcher Morgan Schaben (junior, Portsmouth, Harlan HS) threw a complete game in Tuesday's 10-inning opener but didn't have much left Wednesday, yielding 11 runs on 11 hits with four walks in 3.0 innings. Injured pitcher Sydni Huisman (junior, Treynor) only threw 0.1 innings but was saddled with the loss after giving up three runs on two hits and a walk.
           
Huisman (1-3) gamely went the distance in the second game, giving up four runs on six hits and four walks with four walks over 6.0 innings.
           
Central cranked out 16 hits in the opener including four by the leadoff hitter, freshman second baseman Haley Bach (Council Bluffs, Lewis Central HS).  Center fielder Emma Johnson (junior, Davenport, Assumption HS), right fielder Franie Burnett (freshman, Ankeny, Centennial HS), designated player Lauren Birt (senior, Ankeny, Centennial HS) and third baseman Carson Fisk (junior, Searsboro, Lynnville-Sully HS) each had two hits and first baseman Megan Stuhr (sophomore, Sigourney) had a three-run double to fuel Central's sixth-inning comeback.
           
But the Dutch mustered just four hits in the second game and committed their only three errors of the two nights. Johnson had two more hits, keeping her season average at a steamy .481.
           
The big difference was again the long ball. Buena Vista (23-11 overall, 7-5 conference) pounded six home runs.
           
The Dutch have skidded from a share of first place to sixth in a little over a day.
           
"It's a position we're not normally in, but we're definitely not going to quit," Wares said. "We just have to find a way to get through it."
             
Central is slated to play its third league doubleheader in five days Saturday, traveling to Decorah to take on Luther College at 1 p.m. The games will be broadcast on KRLS Radio (92.1 FM) with Trevor Castle and can also be heard via rdo.to/KRLS. The Norse are traditional contenders but are 4-6 in conference play with a 15-11 overall mark heading into Thursday's non-conference doubleheader with Wisconsin-Stout.
           
"Normally Luther and Central are playing for first place but now we're playing to get into the (six-team) conference tournament," Wares said. "But we'll keep battling. We don't just want to look at next year. We want to make something of this season."