The Central College softball team earned a sweep against SUNY Canton and Kenyon College Tuesday, behind a no-hitter in the back half of the doubleheader while the baseball team earned their third sweep of the season against Knox College (Ill.).
The Dutch cruised to the sweep on the softball diamond in a pair of five inning games, defeating SUNY Canton 19-3 and Kenyon College 9-0. Pitchers Morgan Schaben and Chloe Dougherty combined on a no-hitter in the win against Kenyon. Schaben threw 4.1 hitless innings, walking three and striking out two. Dougherty retired the final two batters to finish off the no-hitter. Emma Johnson had two hits, stole two bases, scored twice, and preserved the no-hitter with a diving catch in the win, and Franie Burnett recorded two hits, two stolen bases and scored three runs. In the first game against SUNY Canton, Head Coach George Wares emptied the bench after the Dutch erupted for 10 first-inning runs. Eight more came home in the fourth as Central pounded out 18 hits and swiped eight bases. Johnson was 4-for-4 while Haley Bach also had four hits, stole two bases, scored four runs and knocked in four. Emma Neu allowed just one earned run on three hits with no walks and four strikeouts over 4.0 innings. Sabrina Tallman allowed one run in throwing the final inning.
The Central Baseball team piled on nine runs of the final two innings of the second game, to complete the sweep over Knox College (Ill.) Tuesday. The Dutch won game one 11-5, before winning game two 12-9. Central trailed 8-3 entering the top of the sixth in the second game, but the Dutch pushed five runs across the plate in the sixth and added three more in the seventh to complete the rally. In the seventh and final inning, three consecutive Prairie Fire errors in the infield preceded a two RBI single by Tanner Bigelow. A sacrifice bunt by Jared Kampf plated Josh Mohr before Bigelow scampered home on a wild pitch. In the sixth inning, Colton DeRocher hit a two-run blast for the team’s first home run of the season. Landon Thiele earned the win in relief, limiting the Prairie Fire to two earned runs in four innings while striking out six. Kurby Vowels struck out all three batters he faced to record the save. In the first game DeRocher and Lucas Farren each had two hits and three RBIs. Caleb Evans got the win in the opener, yielding three earned runs in four innings. Wes Hamor secured the three-inning save while striking out six.
Both the Central baseball and softball teams have Wednesday off. Dutch softball returns to action Thursday morning at 8 a.m. locally against Wilmington College (Ohio) before meeting Brockport State (N.Y.) at 10 a.m. local time. Both Central softball games Thursday can be heard live on the KRLS 3 stream at KNIAKRLS.com. Central baseball returns to the field at Lake Myrtle Sports Park in Auburndale, FL for a 12 p.m. local start time in a single game against Bowdoin College (Maine).