Burnett heads Central all-conference softball picks kniakrls.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kniakrls.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Central can’t complete softball sweep
PELLA Two classes of Central College softball seniors were recognized Sunday and both left disappointed as the Dutch stumbled to a 6-2 loss to Buena Vista University and failed to sweep the teams’ three-game series.
Central defeated the Beavers Thursday at Pella 9-5 and 5-1.
Central’s 2020 class, which had its season come to an abrupt and unceremonious end last March due to the global pandemic, was saluted prior to the game while this year’s seniors completed their regular season and were honored afterwards. What happened in between turned on a missed opportunity in the fifth inning followed by a letdown in the sixth.
Central softball defense sparkles in sweep
PELLA The difference was defense as the Central College softball team overcame a sputtering offensive start and swept Buena Vista University 9-5 and 4-1 Thursday.
The Dutch (17-10 overall, 15-8 American Rivers) not only played errorless ball but dazzled defensively at times. Held scoreless in the first four innings of the opener, Central jumped on a pair of Buena Vista errors to roll up six runs on just two hits in the fifth inning and added three runs in the sixth before holding off a late BV surge.
“Our defense has been pretty solid,” coach George Wares said.
Huisman shoulders pitching load, Tallman steals record in Central softball split
ARDEN HILLS, MINN. A determined effort by pitcher Sydni Huisman (sophomore, Treynor) lifted the Central College softball team to a 4-1 victory at Bethel University (Minn.) Friday after a grueling 5-4, 10-inning defeat in the opener.
The twinbill was highlighted by a three-stolen base performance from center fielder Sara Tallman (senior, Pella) that gave her Central’s career thefts mark. In a tradition-rich program largely built on aggressive baserunning, Tallman’s 115 career steals tops the mark established by Daniela Grob from 1997-2000. Remarkably, all of Grob’s steals came as a pinch-runner. She’s the only player in American Rivers Conference (formerly Iowa Conference) history to gain all-conference recognition in that role.
The difference was defense as the Central College softball team overcame a sputtering offensive start and swept Buena Vista University 9-5 and 4-1 Thursday. The Dutch (17-10 overall, 15-8 American Rivers) not only played errorless ball but dazzled defensively at times. Held scoreless in the first four innings of the opener, Central jumped on a pair of Buena Vista errors to roll up six runs on just two hits in the fifth inning and added three runs in the sixth before holding off a late BV surge.
Senior Denae Howes entered as a pinch-runner in the fifth inning, stole second and scored but Central batted around and coach George Wares left her in the lineup to hit while still in the fifth. It was just the second at-bat of the season for Howes, but she roped a line drive just beyond the grasp of the Buena Vista shortstop for a two-run hit to highlight the frame, along with a well-placed two-run single by Dutch shortstop Daria Parchert who shortened up and punched a two-strike pitch throu