DECORAH— After suffering its first American Rivers Conference loss of the season, the Central College softball team surged for a 10-0 win in the nightcap against Luther College Tuesday.
Both games were shortened to five innings by run rule but it was the Dutch (22-7, 9-1 American Rivers Conference) who were on the wrong end of it 14-4 against the Norse (25-9, 7-3 conference) in the opener. Central had won three of its first eight league games in run-rule victories.
"No matter how well you've been playing, when you get beat that decisively it can shake your confidence a little bit," coach
George Wares said. "I thought the response was really good."
After falling behind 14-0 in the first game, Central tallied three in the top of the first of game two. Second baseman
Haley Bach's (junior, Council Bluffs, Lewis Central HS) led off the game with a double before consecutive walks preceded a
Megan Stuhr (senior, first base, Sigourney) single to score the first run of the game. Catcher
Rylee Dunkin (freshman, Hamilton, Twin Cedars HS) reaching by error enabled two more to score for the early 3-0 lead.
Emma Beck (sophomore, Holland, Grundy Center HS) got the win in the circle in game two, throwing all five innings with just four hits and three walks while striking out three.
"We needed that, especially after losing the first game," Wares said. "It helped that we got three runs in the top of the first inning to help make her a little more comfortable."
The Dutch tallied eight hits in the win but also took advantage of seven walks issues by the Norse pitching staff and five errors by its defense.
Left fielder
Megan Doty (fifth year, Grinnell) sparked the Dutch offense from the eight hole in game two, driving in four runs on two hits. Her three-run double in the fourth brought Central's run total to 10.
"That was good to see from her," Wares said.
Stuhr, Dunkin, Bach and
Franie Burnett (senior, Ankeny, Centennial HS) also drove in runs during the first game.
Sydni Huisman (fifth year, Treynor) took the loss as game one's starting pitcher. Two hits and four walks turned into five earned runs in 2.0 innings.
Chloe Dougherty finished out the game in the circle, yielding five hits and four walks for eight runs.
Other results around the league enabled Central to stay two games in front of the conference championship race as Coe's 9-3 mark is currently in second place.
"We thought going in that a split would be a good outcome for us in terms of trying to win a league championship," Wares said.
Central returns home for a non-conference doubleheader against Cornell College Tuesday at 2 p.m.
