Wartburg and Central head east for softball tourney

The Wartburg and Central softball teams leave, today, for Salem, Virginia and the N-C-A-A division three softball finals. Central is making its 12th appearance at the nationals after upending top ranked Pacific Lutheran at a regional in Tacoma, Washington.Central coach George Wares says a difficult schedule has his team prepared. He says the conference race and non-conference tournament they played in help them. Wartburg advanced by winning a rain-delayed regional in Waverly and had to post three victories Monday to get it done. Coach Rick Willis says they showed a lot of toughness in playing back through the loser’s bracket. He says it is no surprise that two of the eight teams at the finals are from the Iowa Conference, as he says it’s a tremendous conference that prepares the teams to play against anyone. Central is the top seed and plays the tournament opener against Western New England on Friday. Wartburg is the seventh seed and plays Emory in the first round.