Central Finishes as Runners Up in A-R-C Softball Tournament

Continuing the American Rivers Conference tournament Saturday, the fifth seeded Central softball team defeated top seeded Simpson College 4-3 in nine innings in the semifinals, before finishing as the league’s runners up. In the championship game, the Dutch fell to Nebraska Wesleyan 5-1, resulting in Central’s second consecutive season finishing in second place at the conference tournament.

In the semifinal against Simpson, the Dutch got off to a quick start, as Alexa Anderson hit an RBI single in the opening frame. Emma Jensen and Haley Bach added RBIs in the second to give the Dutch a 3-0 lead. Simpson scored two runs in the bottom of the second and that would be the end of the scoring until the Storm tied the game with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning. With Emma Beck still sidelined with an injury, Jadyn Huisman earned her sixth win of the season. She went 6.2 innings allowing three runs on six hits and eight walks. She pitched around traffic throughout the game, stranding 14 runners on base. Carlin Smith made her fourth pitching appearance of the season and went 2.1 scoreless innings limiting Simpson to just one hit. After a scoreless eighth inning, Hannah Higgins recorded her only hit with a game-leading RBI single in the top of the ninth to score Chloe Dougherty.

In the A-R-C championship game, Nebraska Wesleyan started off hot and took advantage of walks scoring three runs on just one hit. During the opening frame Smith returned to the circle in relief of Dougherty and finished the game allowing one earned run on seven hits and one walk in six innings. Central scored its run when Jensen hit an RBI single to score pinch runner Anya Kistenmacher in the fifth inning.

The Dutch are expecting to receive an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament which will be revealed during the selection show Monday morning at 10 am.

Steffen Wins MVP, Three Events at League Championships

Central College’s Peyton Steffen won both the 1500 meters and 5000 meters Saturday at the American Rivers Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships, securing the league’s Women’s Track Events MVP.

Steffen also won the 3,000-meter steeplechase Friday night to contribute 30 points to the Central team score. The Dutch totaled 135 points to take third. Steffen ran the 1500 in 4 minutes, 30.41 seconds and the 5000 meters in 18:06.21. Amber Vroman won the pole vault with a clearance of 11 feet, 5 inches, while teammates Leah Howard and Kylie Meyer finished second (11’ 1”) and fourth (10’ 1.25”), respectively. Emily McMartin was an all-conference performer in three events, and broke a school record in the 400-meter dash (55.62) while finishing second. She also was third in the 200-meter dash (24.80) and anchored the 4×400-meter relay team to a runner-up finish (3:51.02). She was joined on the 4×400 squad by Olivia Bohlen, Ava Parkins, and Alivia Roerdink. Bohlen was second in the 110-meter hurdles (14.62 seconds) and Roerdink was third in the 800 meters (2:15.07) to round out the all-conference honorees.

A small contingent of Dutch athletes will compete at the Augustana Twilight Qualifier next Wednesday and Thursday in Rock Island, Illinois.

Three More Individual Conference Titles for Central Men

The Central College men’s track and field team had three more individual titles Saturday at the American Rivers Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

The Dutch men were fourth as a team with 101 points. Gunner Meyer topped the 110-meter hurdles field in a school-record time of 14.10 seconds. In the triple jump, Kale Purcell took the lead on his fifth attempt and matched his own school record with a mark of 48’ 0.5”. Jack Brown won his second event of the meet with a time of 3:48.35 in the 1500 meters. Grant Miller had a pair of all-conference finishes in the javelin throw (191’ 9”) and 110-meter hurdles (14.20). Kale Hobart set a school record in the 400-meter hurdles (52.71), finishing second.

A small contingent of Dutch athletes will compete at the Augustana Twilight Qualifier next Wednesday and Thursday in Rock Island, Illinois.