Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 COLUMBUS, GA.— The trip to the NFCA Division III Leadoff Classic is all about the chance to take on some of the nation's best.
           
Thus, there's the risk of running into a day like Saturday, when the No. 21-rated Central College softball team (3-2) was overpowered by a pair of top-10 foes, tumbling to No. 6 Moravian University (Pa.) 10-4 and No. 3 Berry College (Ga.) 13-5 in five innings.
           
"They're definitely the two best teams that we've played," coach George Wares said. "Moravian is a top-10 team and they returned everybody from last year. And Berry is just good. They could win the national championship."
           
Moravian (1-0) took a 4-1 lead in the second inning of the opener, then broke it open with three runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth inning. Sydni Huisman (5th-year, Treynor), now 1-1, was charged with five runs on eight hits and two walks in 4.0 innings. Morgan Schaben (5th-year, Portsmouth, Harlan HS) threw the final three frames and allowed five runs on five hits while also walking five but striking out four.
           
Second baseman Haley Bach (junior, Council Bluffs, Lewis Central HS) had three hits of Central's five hits and scored twice. 
           
Powerhouse Berry (12-0) erupted for seven runs in a second inning highlighted by a three-run homer, then scored six more in the third. The Vikings, who entered the day hitting a blistering .388 as a team, pounded out 11 hits in four innings off two Central pitchers. Emma Beck (sophomore, Holland, Grundy Center HS), now 2-1, absorbed the loss and was charged with all 13 runs. Schaben allowed a hit but navigated through a scoreless fourth inning.
           
"You just can't make a mistake against them," Wares said. "Emma (Beck) was actually reasonably sharp and her change-up was working pretty well. Then you have a walk and a couple of dink hits and the next kid hits it 250 feet."
           
Bach and center fielder Emma Johnson (5th-year, Davenport, Assumption Catholic HS) were each on base twice with a hit and a walk. Johnson scored twice. Right fielder Emma Jensen (junior, Earlham) had two hits, stole a base and scored while first baseman Megan Stuhr (senior, Sigourney) drove in a pair of runs with two hits.
           
"The positive is that we had some really solid at-bats," Wares said. "Carson Fisk (5th-year, Searsboro, Lynnville-Sully HS) is starting to hit well. And I thought Haley (Bach) and Emma Johnson came out of it today and started swinging the bat."
                   
Central concludes play in the NFCA event with a pair of games Sunday. The Dutch take on traditional West Coast power Chapman University (Calif.) at 9 a.m. (EST) and No. 11 Bethel University (Minn.) at 11 a.m. Chapman took a 5-3 record into a Saturday contest with Illinois Wesleyan University. The Panthers were 27-16 a year ago. Bethel was 36-5 last year, defeating Central twice in an NCAA Regional at Pella before getting sidelined in the super regional. The Royals were opening their season Saturday.
           
An audio webcast of Sunday's games can be accessed through the kniakrls.com website. "The Voice of the Dutch" Trevor Castle will call the action, joined by former all-America Central pitcher Kara Huisman.
           
Wares said the Dutch have to rally emotionally for two more challenging games coming off a long day.
           
"I think there's disappointment but a sense that we're a work in progress," he said. "It's a unique sport that we have a day like this and less than 24 hours later we've got to come back and play a really athletic Chapman team and, of course, Bethel we know all about. So it's not like we have time to recover and work on a couple of things. We're not going to make great improvements without practice, but we're just trying to do whatever we can to find a way to win a game or two tomorrow and get ready for Arizona."
           
The Dutch leave next Saturday for a spring-break trip to the Tucson (Ariz.) Invitational Games.