In a battle of top-25 teams, 21st-ranked Central College and 23rd-ranked Bethel University split a season-opening softball doubleheader Saturday morning inside the Rochester Bubble in southeastern Minnesota.

The Dutch rallied to win the opener 7-4, while the Royals led from the second inning on in a 6-2 victory in the nightcap. That’s a loosely used term, however, as the twinbill started at six o’clock in the morning Saturday. With six new starters, Central entered the 2016 season with a host of questions, and while many of them are still unanswered, Hall of Fame Coach George Wares was optimistic afterwards.

“Clearly there are more positives (than negatives) that we’re going to take away, considering how young we were. And don’t let me say that too often going forward. But considering that, there were a lot of positives, and I’m glad we did it, even though everybody knows my lack of desire to play indoors. I’m glad we did it before we go to Florida, because it gives us three days of practice to try to correct a few things, what we can in that short a period of time, then go outside and play.”

The Dutch will travel to Kissimee, Florida on Thursday where they’ll play 10 times in the Rebel games, before traveling to Columbus, Georgia for a six-pack of contests in the NFCA Division III Leadoff Classic starting March 11th.