Above, Olivia Findley struck out six in three innings for Central on Monday, Aug. 7. Below, Jesse Strauch (11) beat the throw to EMEA's Denise van Rijst. Bottom, the umpires get their due. Photos by RUSLANA LAMBERT

“We worked hard today,” said Central’s manager, Pete Gillis, adding that his team took extra batting practice in early-morning rain on Monday before moving to 2-0 with the win in one of the night’s early games. “This is the kind of team we have. We should have hit a lot better yesterday.”

The Dutch team had only one hit on Monday, but after the game at least one of its coaches didn’t seem surprised.

“Nothing went wrong,” Coach Jeroen Hijmans said. “They’re better. They have more experience pitching than we have.”

Central’s Olivia Findley — who had six strikeouts in three innings — and Dani Campbell combined for the five-inning, one-hit shutout. But their performance was overshadowed by the offense, which sputtered through most of Sunday’s opener.

Three straight doubles by Maria Gillis, Alli Catanzarite and Ashley Gates capped a four-run first inning that foreshadowed the rest of Monday’s shortened game. After Findley struck out the side in the EMEA half of the second, Central scored six runs on four hits in the bottom, extending its lead to 10-0. Two runs scored on a Gillis single in the third to end the game’s scoring.

Gillis — who but pitched all eight innings in the team’s opener and had the game-winning hit — went 3-4 with a double and six RBIs on Monday.

Catanzarite added two hits, including a double, and two RBIs in the team’s second win of the tournament. Central was 2-0 as of Monday night but was also set to play Tuesday, after this Coastal Point special World Series publication went to press.