Central’s pitchers allowed just five combined hits in a 6-0, 5-0 sweep of Loras yesterday afternoon in Dubuque in a doubleheader heard live on 92.1 KRLS.

The Dutch jumped in front 3-0 in the opener on a bases loaded triple by Amanda Sigulas, then added three more on a trio of run scoring singles in the sixth.

That was more than enough for Karly Olson, who allowed just two hits in spinning a complete game shutout.

In game two, Olson combined with Mariah Fritz for a three-hit shutout. Lauren Bagby, Tabitha Taylor and Abbie Voas all had two hist for Central, with Taylor tallying two RBI and Voas slugging a home run.

The Duhawks came in to the day ranked in the top 20 in batting average among all 400-plus division three schools, and Dutch head coach George Wares gives his pitchers a ton of credit for shutting them down.

“Part of it is always a product of the strike zone, and our pitchers know that. There are certain people who come where it’s going to be one of those days (with a tight zone) and we know our offense is going to have to do more. We didn’t know the gentlemen in the first game, and he was very pitcher friendly and we used that to our advantage. And, right now, if you’re playing us and you have some left-handed slappers, we have an answer for that (with our shift), especially with Karly pitching, and then I think that becomes contagious.”

Central is now 27-7 on the season, and 9-3 in the Iowa Conference, which puts them all alone in second place behind Luther thanks to a split between Coe and Wartburg that gave each of those teams its fourth league loss.

The Dutch will host Nebraska Wesleyan on Wednesday.

Tags: