Four Central pitchers combined on a pair of shutout victories yesterday as the Dutch softball team opened play at the Tucson Spring Invitational. In the first game under the sun, Mallory Scheulenberg and Annie Devries three-hit NCAA tournament qualifier Staten Island of New York, as Central College earned a 7-0 victory. Katie Canney’s three-run homer sparked a 5-run second inning, and the senior catcher added an RBI single later in the game. In game two, it was fellow senior Whitney Sowers providing the long-ball, belting a two-run bomb and the Dutch scored multiple runs in each of their four offensive innings as they buried Marian of Wisconsin 11-0 in five. Trisha Smith and Jaelyn Monhollon were the one-two punch in that one in the circle. Coach George Wares says that it was an overall solid first day of what will become a long grind in Arizona.
“We’re happy. We had an opportunity to rest some people, which is important, and I thought all of our pitchers were very sharp. They were around the zone. I thought our at-bats got better, they were average overall, and our base running was pretty solid. I would say it’s a good start.”
The Dutch improve to 4-2 on the season, and they’re back in action today with a pair of contests. They’ll battle Edgewood of Wisconsin at 1:00 this afternoon, Iowa time, before taking on Crown of Minnesota at 3:30. You can hear the Edgewood game live on www.kniakrls.com on our KNIA2 stream.