Kiley Lythberg March 18, 2009

Lythberg gem fuels Central sweep

TUCSON, ARIZ..—After racking up eight or more runs in seven of the season’s first eight games, the Central College softball team went old school Wednesday, winning a pair of games with pitching.

Kylie Lythberg (sophomore, Mount Prospect, Ill.) turned in perhaps her finest showing in a Central uniform, tossing a two-hitter in a dramatic 2-1, eight-inning victory over Wis.-La Crosse. Then three Dutch hurlers combined for a 5-3 victory over Marian Univ. (Wis.). Central pitchers yielded just one earned run on the day and the Dutch improved to 9-1.

Lythberg’s effort was reminiscent of the performances Central routinely turned in years ago when college softball games were typically low-scoring affairs. She allowed just one baserunner in the first seven innings. Lythberg intentionally walked one batter and struck out four.

“That’s the best Kiley has looked since she’s been (at Central),” coach George Wares said. “The umpire had a generous strike zone that she used to her advantage, but the La Crosse pitcher did, too. And we made the plays behind her when we had to.”

The international tiebreaker rule was used in the eighth inning, with each squad starting the frame with a runner on second base. Central appeared to be in control after Afton Nelson (junior, Bettendorf, Pleasant Valley HS) made a diving grab of a popped bunt, then scrambled to her feet to fire to second base for a double play that cleared the bases. But then Wis.-La Crosse’s Jenna Ahnen tripled off the fence in left field and scored when a blooper behind third base was mishandled.

But Central took advantage of some Eagles’ misfortune in the bottom of the eighth. Laura Braun (junior, Newton) scored the tying run on a sacrifice fly by first baseman Katie Tenboer (sophomore, Morrison, Ill.). Then second baseman Angela Davis (freshman, West Des Moines, Valley HS), who had walked, later raced home with the gamewinner when a throw was dropped at first base on what looked to be an inning-ending ground ball.

Central outhit Wis.-La Crosse 6-2 as the Eagles fell to 8-5.

“Through seven innings I thought we hit the ball harder than they did, but we just didn’t get the big base hit,” Wares said.

Central trailed Marian (4-9) after three innings 1-0. But Davis and Nelson got the Dutch on the board with back-to-back triples to start a three-run fourth inning. Nelson also singled home a run in the fifth while Davis singled and scored on a two-out double by Tenboer in the seventh inning.

Tenboer (2-0) got the win in relief of Megan Swingen (senior, Woden, Woden-Crystal Lake HS). She threw 3.2 innings of one-hit shutout ball with four strikeouts and no walks. Allyse Vander Plaats (junior, Apple Valley, Calif., Naperville, Ill.) surrendered two unearned runs in the seventh before Swingen returned to get the final out.

Wares liked what he saw from Tenboer, who’s still not 100 percent after a preseason injury.

“Katie was real impressive,” he said. “At the end we wanted to see what Allyse could do and she wasn’t bad. Megan (Swingen) was not real sharp but got a big final out with a nice pitch.”

Nelson had three hits on the day. She broke a school record by reaching base for the 15th straight time with a first-inning base hit against Wis.-La Crosse before the streak ended with a force out in the third.

“Afton’s hitting the ball but she’s also playing very well defensively,” Wares said. “That play in the tiebreaker was big. She’s playing the way we expect her to play. She’s capable of being an all-American and she’s playing like that. She definitely gives us tremendous leadership in a young infield as well.”

Central takes on Denison Univ. (Ohio) at 1:30 p.m. (Pacific Daylight Time) Thursday, then battles Otterbein College (Ohio) at 6 p.m.