Three Iowa teams will be part of an NCAA division three softball regional in Pella beginning Thursday. Central College is the second seed and will take on Midwest Conference champion Cornell in the opening round. Central coach George Wares says his team is familiar with their former Iowa Conference foe.
They played them last year and beat them 4-1 and 4-2, but he says it was a struggle. The winner of the regional will advance to the division three championships in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
“You need to play well and then you need to catch a break or two, every year that we’ve made a run there’s been one inning or two innings or one play or two plays where you can say that foul ball went for us or against us and that was a determining factor,” Wares says.
Cornell is coming of its first conference title and the Rams have won eight of their last nine games. Coach Shanda Ness says they are excited to be representing the conference at the next stage and feel good about how they are playing.
Ness says the Rams know they have a tough first round draw and it is a matter of playing great defense and hitting the ball solidly.
Coe if the fourth seed and opens against Washington of St. Louis. Kohawk coach Bob Timmons on the keys to winning the tournament.
“You have to put a good three days together and play well with good pitching and have the defense step up and hopefully you get some timely hitting,” Timmons says.
Timmons says there are plenty of good teams in the regional who will challenge the two Iowa Conference schools.