The Central College softball team swept the University of Dubuque yesterday afternoon, 2-0 and 8-2 to clinch second place in the Iowa Conference standings.

Karly Olson tossed a four-hit shutout in the opener, her seventh of the season, while striking out nine and issuing just one intentional walk.

The offense came to life in game two with 15 hits, including three each by Lauren Bagby and Abbie Voas.

Coach George Wares says that it wasn’t easy, and he gives the Spartans credit for that.

“I thought they played pretty well in that first game, and we had our old M.O. of leaving runners on, especially when it was 2-0 and we had a great opportunity to push it to four. The hardest hit ball was unfortunately with two outs when Olson hit one to left field. But I’m not going to say that’s a concern because we haven’t had much practice time outside. Now the weather’s going to be nice and we’ll have a couple of days to practice before the Iowa Conference tournament. I thought that we did what we had to do today and we’re in a great spot moving forward.”

Central finishes the regular season at 31-7 and 13-3 in Iowa Conference play.

As the regular season runner-up, the Dutch will get a first round bye in this weekend’s six-team single elimination tournament. They’ll play Saturday afternoon in the semifinals against the winner of Friday’s game between Coe and Loras.

You can catch Central’s Iowa Conference tournament action this Saturday on 92.1 KRLS.

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