Megan Swingen March 13, 2009

Central opens with back-to-back shutouts

TUCSON, ARIZ.—Coach George Wares saw exactly what he was looking for on day one of the Central College softball season as the Dutch recorded back-to-back shutouts Friday, blanking Monmouth College (Ill.) 8-0 in six innings and Oneonta State (N.Y.) 9-0 in five innings.  

Megan Swingen (senior, Woden, Woden-Crystal Lake HS) yielded jus t one hit and got some relief help from Katie Tenboer (sophomore, Morrison, Ill.) in the opener. Kylie Lythberg (sophomore, Mount Prospect, Ill.) came back with a one-hit, five-inning shutout.

“Our pitching was improved,” Wares said. “It’s a little tough to measure because we know we’re probably going to face some better hitters later, but the pitchers did what we wanted them to do. For the most part they stayed ahead in the count, they limited walks and threw the kinds of pitches they wanted to.”

Meanwhile the Dutch bats unleashed a 19-hit attack in the two games, including a pair of first-inning homers. Freshman shortstop Kelsey Wright (Gilbertville, Don Bosco HS) belted an inside-the-park shot off the exceptionally deep Lincoln Park fences to lead off the first. Overturf followed four batters later with a towering two-run blast to highlight a four-run frame.

Overturf also had a triple and two singles on the day and reached on an error twice. Right fielder Laura Brown (junior, Newton) had four hits in the two games while Wright had three hits, as did designated player Ryann Engholm (senior, Bloomington, Minn., Thomas Jefferson HS). Overturf also made a nice running catch on a shot to right-center as the veteran Dutch outfield played errorless ball.

Tenboer, who suffered a serious ankle injury in January and was doubtful for the week, started at first base and made a cameo as pitcher.

“If there was a pleasant surprise it was that Katie was able to get 1.2 innings,” Wares said. “She’s not nearly as ready yet as the other pitchers but it was good to get her in there.”

The Dutch opened with three freshmen up the middle—Wright at shortstop, Angela Davis (West Des Moines, Valley HS) and Kyrie Hale (Lee’s Summit, Mo.) at catcher.

“I thought they were solid,” Wares said. “(Davis and Wright) each made an error and had a couple of things not go well, but they know what they did wrong and they are things that are not hard to correct.”

Trysha Shimak (sophomore, Cedar Rapids, Kennedy HS) caught the second game as she and Hale alternate in the early going.

“I was relatively pleased with both catchers,” Wares said. “Trysha did a good job handling Megan’s (Swingen) drop ball and Kyrie did a nice job adjusting to how we call games.”

The Dutch will get a more accurate measure of their progress Saturday when they tackle defending NCAA Division III champion Wis.-Eau Claire at 5 p.m. (Pacific Daylight Time). The Blugolds graduated a few key players but return their top pitcher and are ranked No. 2 this year. Central and Augsburg College (Minn.) square off at 7 p.m. The Auggies are tabbed for third place in the highly regarded Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.