PELLA — For the first time since 2023, the Central College softball lost both ends of a home American Rivers Conference doubleheader against Wartburg College Tuesday.
           
Central led early in the first game before an eight-run fifth inning by Wartburg led to a 10-4 loss. The Knights held on in game two with a 5-4 victory.
           
The Dutch got on the board in the third inning of game one with two runs to take an early lead. The costly eight-run inning featured just one hit, a three-run double, but included nine walks
           
Central clawed back with an Emma Anderson (sophomore, right fielder, Forest City) solo home run in the sixth and Hannah Higgins (senior, third baseman, Macomb, Ill.) second RBI of the day in the seventh.
           
In game two, Central fell behind 4-0 after three innings and then 5-0 in the top of the fifth. A bases loaded walk to Larissa Miller (junior, second base, Ankeny) gave Central a run and a two-run double by Sarah Stufflebeam (junior, shortstop, Macomb, Ill.) gave Central some momentum. An infield single by Anderson plated Stufflebeam but the potential game-tying run, Higgins was thrown out trying to take third on the play.
           
Central could not get a base runner to second in the sixth or seventh.
           
Jadyn Huisman (sophomore, Treynor) was the losing pitcher in the first game. She was charged with seven earned runs on one hit and 11 walks. Peyton Levine (freshman, Oswego, Ill., Yorkville HS) took the loss in the night cap, allowing five earned runs on five hits and six walks.
           
Central travels to Loras College for a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday.