Central Softball Offense Leads to Doubleheader Sweep of Coe

The Central College softball team bounced back from two tough losses with a doubleheader sweep against Coe College on Wednesday.

After scoring just six runs in their losses on Monday, the Dutch offense had a resurgence with 22 runs on 24 hits to win game one 10-4 and game two 12-4. The top four hitters for Central were productive once again, combining for 13 of the team’s hits across the two games. Haley Bach had five hits, three RBIs and scored four runs in the twinbill, while Larissa Miller totaled three hits and scored three runs. Hannah Higgins added three hits, five runs and two RBIs, and Alexa Anderson also had three RBIs on two hits. Emma Jensen had four hits and scored twice, Mariah Parton had three hits, three runs, and an RBI, and Rylee Dunkin added three runs scored. Pitcher Emma Beck got the win in both games, pitching a combined 9.2 innings while allowing just three runs on nine hits and striking out three hitters. Jadyn Huisman finished both games, pitching 3.2 innings while allowing only one earned run and striking out one.

The Dutch return home Friday to host Luther College for a doubleheader at 2 pm.

Central Women’s Tennis Finishes Up Regular Season Matches

The Central College women’s tennis team played its final tune up match before the American Rivers Conference tournament on Wednesday, falling 6-1 at home to Division II Truman State University (Mo.).

Truman State won the doubles point with wins at #1 and #3. Central’s duo of Jenna Mitsuko Mahoney and Becca Vala won 6-3 at #2. In the loss at #3, Keleigh Hall and Madi Whalen hung tough but lost 7-5. In the singles matches, Emily Blom was the lone match winner, taking her #6 matchup 6-4, 7-6 (7-5). Lauren Gano at #4 and Emma Murphy at #5 both went into third-set tiebreaks in their matches. Gano and her opponent swapped 6-0 decisions in the first two sets before Gano fell 10-5 in the tiebreak. Murphy won her first set 6-4 before falling 6-3 in the second set and 10-5 in her tiebreak.

The Dutch finished as the #3 seed in the A-R-C in the fall season, which means they will host the #6 seed Loras College on Tuesday in the first round of the tournament at 4 pm.