Angela Davis May 4, 2009

Tough NCAA road awaits Central

 PELLA—Central College’s return to the NCAA Division III softball tournament field will be a challenging one.  

Seeded second in its eight-team first-round bracket at Indianola, the Dutch (36-6) must take on Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics Conference champion Gustavus Adolphus College (35-7), the No. 7 seed, in their tournament opener Thursday at 6 p.m. The Gusties won their league with a 21-1 mark. First-round double-elimination tournament play continues through Sunday.

It’s a record 21st NCAA tourney berth for Dutch coach George Wares, and Central’s first appearance since 2006. Central has won four Division III national championships (1988, 1991, 1993, 2003) while placing second twice (1986, 2001). The Dutch have finished in the national top five 12 times. Central has a 79-39 NCAA tournament record, the second-most wins in Division III history and the most under one coach.

Listen live--Central’s NCAA tournament games will air on KRLS-FM (92.1) radio and can also be heard via www.kniakrls.com or through www.central.edu/athletics. Veteran Dutch sportscaster Trevor Castle will call the action, joined by former Central softball all-American Molly Parrott.

Pairings--The winner of the Central-Gustavus Adolphus contest advances to a 6 p.m. Friday game against the winner of a Thursday game between No. 3 Washington-St. Louis (Mo.) (23-16) and No. 6 Luther College (33-9). The No. 1 seeded Univ. of St. Thomas (Minn.) (39-4) squares off with No. 8 Webster Univ. (Mo.) (23-16) at noon Thursday while No. 4 Wartburg College (36-6) tackles the No. 5 seeded Univ. of Wis.-La Crosse (34-10) at 2 p.m.

The Central-Gustavus Adolphus loser comes back at 2 p.m. Friday for an elimination game against the Washington-Luther loser.

The champion of the double-elimination bracket gains one of eight spots for the NCAA Division III finals May 15-19 at Montclair, N.J.

The 59-team tournament field was announced Monday morning. The Iowa Conference received four berths. In addition to Central, Luther and Wartburg, league tourney champ Coe College will play at a site in Bloomington, Ill.

Laura BraunThe road to Montclair--Granted, it’s been two years since the Dutch have been in the field, but Wares doesn’t recall facing a first-round gauntlet like the one being assembled in Indianola. In last week’s NFCA Division III coaches’ poll, Central was ranked No. 2, with Wartburg No. 7, St. Thomas No. 13, Gustavus Adolphus No. 18 and Washington-St. Louis No. 21. Luther was ranked most of the season.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time and I can’t ever remember being in a better regional top to bottom than this one,” Wares said. “I think any of these teams could win it on a given weekend.”

The Dutch are familiar with the other seven teams, playing them each at least once over the past three seasons. Central and Gustavus Adolphus were slated to meet in St. Peter, Minn. April 26, but the games were rained out. Central swept the Golden Gusties in Pella in 2007 and holds a 5-0 series lead.               

Central met four of the teams this year, posting a 6-4 mark. The Dutch were 2-1 winners in eight innings against Wis.-La Crosse at the Tucson (Ariz.) Invitational Games March 18 and swept Washington-St. Louis at Pella April 3, 4-3 and 4-1. Central is 2-1 against Wartburg. The teams split a doubleheader at Pella April 7. Central fell 3-2 before winning 4-1, then defeated the Knights Friday in the league tournament at Pella 5-3. But the Dutch are 1-3 against Luther. They split an April 1 doubleheader at Pella as Central rallied for a 4-3 win before losing 2-1. At the league tournament Luther prevailed 5-3 Thursday and 8-5 Saturday.

Kiley LythbergIn 2008 Central was pounded by St. Thomas, 9-0, in five innings in Orange, Calif. The Tommies, winners of the 2004 and 2005 NCAA crowns, lead Division III with a sizzling .408 team batting average. Central edged Webster (Mo.) last year in St. Louis, Mo. 4-3.

Dutch numbers—This will be the first NCAA tourney for most of Central’s young squad, which has four freshmen in the starting lineup. Rachael Everingham (freshman, Georgetown, Ill., Ridge Farm HS) tops the hitting charts with a .376 mark and 24 RBIs. Senior center fielder Alysha Overturf (senior, Bettendorf, Pleasant Valley HS) has one of the league’s best gloves and is hitting .374, shares the team doubles lead with six and has 22 steals. Third baseman Afton Nelson (junior, Bettendorf, Pleasant Valley HS) is hitting .357 with 24 RBIs and 14 stolen bases.

Pitcher Megan Swingen (senior, Woden, Woden-Crystal Lake HS) is enjoying her best season with a 16-1 record and a 1.34 earned run average. And Kiley Lythberg (sophomore, Mount Prospect, Ill.) has displayed dramatic improvement with a 16-4 record and a 1.37 ERA.

Central is outhitting opponents .321 to .206. The Dutch have a commanding 114-11 advantage in stolen bases, a .954 to .937 edge in fielding percentage and lead in team ERA 1.30 to 5.03.

Overturf ranks fourth on Central’s career runs scored list (117), fifth in RBIs (93), seventh in doubles (28), ninth in stolen bases (50) and 10th in hits (152). Outfielder Ryann Engholm (senior, Bloomington, Minn., Thomas Jefferson HS) is fifth in career home runs (9), tied for fifth in triples (9) and eighth in career slugging percentage (.488).

Swingen is fourth in career appearances (106), fifth in saves (9), ninth in innings pitched (411.1) and 10th in wins (48).

Thrill ride—For Wares, an NFCA Hall of Fame coach with an 840-278-3 record, making the NCAA field remains a thrill.

“It feels fantastic,” he said. “It’s still exciting. And it’s fun to see the players excited.”

Wares said Central’s 2-2 performance in last weekend’s conference tournament at Pella was disappointing and that his squad is determined to make a better showing this week. But more importantly, he said, he wants the Dutch to savor the ride.

“The quality of the competition in this bracket is like a national tournament,” he said. “I’m sure it will be full of excitement. What I want to stress to the players is that we want to win it, but I also want them to enjoy it and enjoy the competition. I want them to go out and have fun.”

First-round championship bracket

Central’s NCAA tournament history