| Kelsey Weindruch had two hits
and five RBI on the day for the Norse. D3photography.com photo by Ryan Coleman |
The number three was lucky for the Luther Norse. In the third inning, Kelsey Weindruch, batting third in the order and wearing number three, hit a three-run home run to give the Norse a 3-1 lead. Luther added five more in the sixth to defeat Anderson 8-1 and move into a winners bracket game with Cortland on Saturday.
Luther had to battle the weather as well as the Anderson Ravens. In the regional, Luther had similar weather. "The experience of play a lot of games in the rain helped prepare us," said Becca Girvan.
In the sixth inning, Luther sent 10 players to the plate and score five runs on six hits and an error. Carli Radil's double starter the inning and her pop-up to catcher ended the frame.
"We have four seniors who know what to expect," said Luther head coach Renae Hartl. "We have not gotten the first win the last three times we were here and it was nice to get the win under our belts.
Anderson, which was the lowest seed to advance to Eau Claire, scored its run in the first. A one out single by Amy Wuestefeld was followed by an error on the Luther third baseman, Morgan Franklin. With runners on first and second base, Yardley Collett sent the ball though the right side to plate a run giving the Anderson Ravens a 1-0 lead.
"That has been the makeup of our team, we get players on base and put pressure on the defense and it has worked to our advantage," said Anderson coach Tony Holloway on scoring the early run.