Green Knights Forced Into Losers' Bracket at MWC Tournament

From Sports Information Director, May 6, 2011 | Softball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

RIPON - St. Norbert College split its first two games at the Midwest Conference Tournament and will have to battle back through the losers' bracket if it is to win its third consecutive league championship.

The Green Knights topped Monmouth College 5-4 before losing to Ripon College 8-3 at Tracy Field. St. Norbert will play Monmouth in a loser-out game at 10 a.m. Saturday. The survivor will have to beat Ripon twice immediately following to claim the league championship.

St. Norbert pulled out to a 5-1 lead against Monmouth in the opener but had to hold on after the Scots scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh. Kristin Zimmerman's double drove in a run in the first, while Abby Van Straten's groundout made it 2-0 in the second. Steph Brunette's two-run triple in the fourth pushed St. Norbert's lead to 4-0. Monmouth scored once in the fifth but Kayla Krueger's RBI single made it 5-1 in the sixth. The Scots scored three times in the bottom of the seventh and had runners on the corners with two outs, but St. Norbert got out of the jam.

Zimmerman was 3-for-4, while Van Straten and Krueger were both 2-for-3. Krueger got the win, allowing eight hits in 6 1/3 innings. Corbeille got the last two outs for the save.

Against Ripon, the Red Hawks took a 3-0 lead into the sixth inning. St. Norbert pulled to within 3-2 on a Jessica Kropp's two-run home run. The blast was Kropp's seventh of the year, matching teammate Morgan Buboltz's school record. The Red Hawks put the game away in the top of the seventh, scoring five runs on four hits and a pair of St. Norbert errors. Ashtin Schmechel's solo home run in the bottom of the seventh closed out the scoring.

Kropp and Corbeille were both 2-for-3. Corbeille took the loss for St. Norbert, allowing 11 hits and eight runs in 6 1/3 innings.