St. Norbert Drops Softball Regional Opener to Luther

From Sports Information Director, May 13, 2010 | Softball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

WHITEWATER - St. Norbert College lost its opening game in the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional 5-1 to Luther College at van Steenderen Field.

The eighth-seeded Green Knights (30-7), will face Alma College (30-10) at 11 a.m. Friday in an elimination game. Luther (38-5), the regional's top seeding and ranked fourth in the NFCA Division III Top 25, will face Carthage College.

St. Norbert did grab an early 1-0 lead with a run in the first inning. Tracy Palmer led off the game with a double and was sacrificed to third by Stephanie Ortiz. Palmer was then cut down at home on Kayla Krueger's fielder's choice. Krueger advanced to second on a passed ball and then came around to score on an infield error.

The Norse wasted little time in answering with three runs in the bottom of the first, getting a two-out, three-run home run by Tiffany Kruse. Bre Twait stroked a solo home run in the second, and Kruse hit a solo shot in the third to complete Luther's scoring.

St. Norbert would get its first two runners aboard in the fourth inning, but couldn't advance the runners. The Green KNights would get just one baserunner the rest of the game.

The Green Knights were held to just three hits in the game by Luther pitchers Lexy Determan and Kim Lambert. Kayla Krueger took the loss to drop to 13-2, allowing seven hits and five runs with two strikeouts in three innings. Kari Corbeille finished up, allowing one hits with one strikeout in three innings.