Given new life with an at-large berth to the NCAA division three softball tournament despite a sluggish finish to the season, Central College came out flat yesterday and dropped a 5-0 decision to North Central of Illinois in the first round of regional competition in Pella. The Dutch committed three errors in the first two innings and fell behind 2-0, and never really threatened offensively as they mustered just five hits on the game. The loss means that their season will be on the line today when Central plays Iowa Conference rival Luther at 1:30. In order to keep their dream alive of returning to the national tournament, they’ll have to win two games today and two tomorrow, which Coach Wares says isn’t as farfetched as you might think. The first game of the day today in Pella is Wash U against North Central at 11:00 this morning, then it’s Central against Luther at 1:30 live on 92.1 KRLS. The winner of that game comes back immediately afterwards against the loser of this morning’s game, and if Central is involved, we’ll have it for you on KRLS.

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