Just as expected, Central and Coe went toe-to-toe yesterday afternoon in an epic college softball game at the division three regional tournament in Pella, and the Kohawks came out on top 2-1 in 9 innings.
Despite the game being played on Central’s home field, Coe was the home team due to tournament rules, and they struck first in the bottom of the first inning on Shannon Aguero’s RBI infield single.  The Dutch answered right back in the top of the second, as Kiley Lythberg led off with a double, followed by an RBI hit by Caitlyn Meyer.
After that, Lythberg and Coe’s Ashley Simon settled into an old-fashioned IIAC pitchers duel, with the latter working out of severe trouble on several occasions.  Central loaded the bases with nobody out in the fourth, but couldn’t score, and again loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth, only to be kept off the scoreboard again.
Coe’s winning inning was started with a leadoff single down the right field line by Aguero, and an error on Dutch right fielder Emily TeBrink allowed her to reach third.  Lythberg intentionally walked the next two hitters to load the bases, then struck out the next two before leadoff hitter Ashley Hood hit a ground ball to third that was booted by Rachel Whiteside, allowing Aguero to scamper home safely.
The loss drops Central into the loser’s bracket, where they’ll play Anderson of Indiana at approximately 1:00pm Sunday.  Join Trevor Castle for the play-by-play live on 92.1 KRLS.  Coe moves on in the winners bracket to play number one ranked Linfield, who beat Washington University 17-0 in the only other completed game of the day yesterday.