The Central College softball team went 1-1 yesterday on the opening day of the Iowa Conference Softball Tournament at Simpson College in Indianola.

The third seeded Dutch started the day with a commanding 10-0 win over sixth seeded Loras, then were defeated by Luther in their second game of the day 4-1. All four of Luther’s runs came courtesy of a grand slam in the first inning.

The Dutch are now 28-11 overall and will face an elimination game tomorrow when they play Buena Vista at 2:00pm. With a win they would play again at 6pm tomorrow night in another elimination game to try and advance to Saturday. It’s a long road ahead for the Dutch however as they would have to win five straight games in the next two days to win the tournament. You can hear live coverage of the Dutch throughout the tournament with Trevor Castle on kniakrls.com.

In related news, the Dutch did move up to number four in the latest NCAA Division III Midwest Region rankings, despite falling three spots to 15th in the NFCA Division III Coaches poll. The regional poll carries the most significance because it’s used as the basis for selections to the 60 team NCAA Division III national tournament and should Central be eliminated from the conference tournament, that number four ranking should still be enough to earn them an at large bid.