INDIANOLA— The Central college softball team continued the American Rivers Conference tournament Saturday and after defeating the No. 1 seed Simpson College 4-3 in nine innings in the semifinals the Dutch, started as the No. 5 seed, finished as runners up.

"It was a really fun weekend," said coach George Wares. "When you look at where this team was with the injuries to get the win yesterday and beat Simpson today, our players are disappointed but overall they feel good, as they should, with what they accomplished."

In the championship game Nebraska Wesleyan University won 5-1 and earned the automatic bed from the conference in the NCAA Division III tournament. This is the second consecutive season Central (25-11, 9-7 A-R-C) finished runners up in the conference tournament.

In the semifinal against Simpson the Dutch got off to a quick start when Alexa Anderson (senior, Mount Ayr) hit an RBI single in the opening frame. Emma Jensen (senior Earlham) and Haley Bach (senior, Council Bluffs, Lewis Central HS) would add RBIs in the second as the Dutch stormed out to a 3-0 lead.

Simpson (31-7, 11-5 American Rivers) scored two runs in the bottom of the second and that would be the end of the scoring until the Storm tied the game with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning.

With Emma Beck (junior, Holland, Grundy Center HS) still sidelined with an injury Jadyn Huisman (freshman, Treynor) earned her sixth win of the season. She went 6.2 innings allowing three runs on six hits and eight walks. She pitched around traffic stranding 14 runners on base. Carlin Smith (Junior, Orange City, MOC-Floyd Valley HS) made her fourth pitching appearance of the season and went 2.1 scoreless innings limiting Simpson to just one hit.

"What Carlin gave us in her 2.1 innings of work won us the game," Wares said. "She was able to stop what was going on and give Jadyn a chance to regroup. That was one of the most emotional rollercoaster type of games you can be in, but those two pitched well. Carlin pitched really well in game two as well."

After a scoreless eighth inning Hannah Higgins (junior, Macomb, Ill.) recorded her only hit as she hit a game-leading RBI single in the top of the ninth scoring pinch runner Chloe Dougherty (senior, Alleman, North Polk HS).

"It was a really important game to win," said Wares. "We were able to get revenge from the regular season and our players remembered it and it was an important win for them.

In the A-R-C championship game, Nebraska Wesleyan (31-11, 10-6 American Rivers) started off hot and took advantage of walks scoring three runs on just one hit.

During the opening frame Smith returned to the circle in relief of Dougherty and finished the game allowing one earned run on seven hits and one walk in six innings.

Central scored its run when Jensen hit an RBI single to score pinch runner Anya Kistenmacher (senior, Holstein, Ridge View HS) in the fifth inning.

The Dutch totaled eight hits in the semifninal against simpson and was limited to five hits in the chapionship. No batters recorded multiple hits in either game.  

The Dutch are more than likely going to receive an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament which will be revealed on the selection show Monday morning at 10 a.m.

"Earlier in the season we were thinking let's get into the tournament, but now we have changed our tone and now we want to reach the super regional again," Wares said. "We will go into the tournament with the intent to win the regional."