Megan Swingen May 6, 2009

Central's Swingen heads all-league list

PELLA—Central College senior Megan Swingen (Woden, Woden-Crystal Lake HS) is the Iowa Conference Softball Pitcher of the Year.    

Swingen heads a group of five Central players receiving all-conference recognition for the league champion Dutch. Central’s George Wares shared league coach of the year honors with Coe College’s Bob Timmons.

Senior center fielder Alysha Overturf (Bettendorf, Pleasant Valley HS), freshman second baseman Angela Davis (West Des Moines, Valley HS) and freshman designated player Rachael Everingham (Georgetown, Ill., Ridge Farm HS) joined Swingen as first-team selections. Sophomore pitcher Kiley Lythberg (Mount Prospect, Ill.) is a second-team pick.

They helped lead the Dutch to their 10th conference championship, posting a 13-3 mark. Central, ranked No. 3 in the NFCA Division III poll, takes a 36-6 overall record into the first round of NCAA tournament play at Indianola Thursday.

Swingen was 7-0 in league play with a conference-best 0.54 earned run average. For the season she posted a career-best 16-1 record with a 1.34 ERA, walking 19 batters and striking out 50 in 94 innings. Swingen, who received honorable mention all-league recognition last year, ranks eighth on Central’s career strikeouts list (275), ninth in innings pitched (411.1), 10th in wins (48) and fifth in saves (9).

Overturf, also a first-team all-conference pick as a freshman in 2006, is hitting .374 with six doubles, three triples, two homers and 16 runs batted in while stealing 22 bases.

Davis was twice named the conference player of the week. She is hitting .310 with six doubles, three triples, two homers and 21 RBIs.

Everingham is batting a team-high .376 with a double, two triples, two homers and 24 RBIs.

Lythberg has a 16-4 pitching mark and a 1.37 ERA. She’s allowed 101 hits and 21 walks in 133 innings while striking out 100.

It’s the seventh time Wares has won or shared league coach of the year honors. A member of the NFCA Hall of Fame, Wares ranks second on the Division III career wins list among active coaches, compiling an 840-278-3 record over 25 seasons.

The Dutch face Gustavus Adolphus College (Minn.) Thursday at 6 p.m. in a first-round NCAA tourney game. The contest will be broadcast on KRLS-FM (92.1) and can also be accessed via the Central athletics Web site at www.central.edu/athletics.