#4 Luther defeats #1 Central 5-2
April 30, 2009
#4 Luther continued to advance in the winners bracket of the Iowa Conference Tournament after defeating #1 Central 5-2 this afternoon in Pella. The Dutch were the regular season champions and entered this game ranked #2 in the nation.
Luther jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top half of the first inning, when Danielle Armbruster hit her third home run of the year, a three-run shot over the right field fence. The Norse added two insurance runs in the fifth thanks to rbi's by Tiffany Kruse and Abby Christian after the Norse loaded the bases.
Christian and Kim Hess tallied four of Luther's six hits reaching base safely twice each. Hess and Anna Simonson both scored twice. Hess has now scored 133 times and is five away from setting the school record. Erin Michael '07 holds the record with 137.
Kim Lambert (9-3) went the distance in the circle. Lambert allowed two runs on seven hits, walked seven and struck out 12.
The win increased Luther's overall record to 32-7, three shy of the single season school record for victories. Central had its 11-game win streak snapped and is now 34-5 overall.
The Norse will face the winner of today's Coe and Wartburg contest at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon. Fans can hear all the action via audio stream at http://sports.luther.edu/video.
