The Gustavus softball team picked up another exciting win at the NCAA Regional Tournament slipping past Luther 5-3 on Friday evening in Indianola, Iowa. Lisa Klass drove in two runs with a two-out double in the third inning and that proved to be the difference. Erin Truebenbach pitched a complete game for the Gusties allowing three runs on four hits, while striking out two and walking six. Gustavus, the #7 seed, will now play Webster, the #8 seed on Saturday at 4 pm.
Emily Klein got the Gusties off to a great start against Luther as she led off the game with a home run giving Gustavus a 1-0 lead. Klein picked up her second RBI of the game in the second inning as she drew a bases loaded walk that scored Kirsten Prunty and extended the Gustie lead to 2-0. Luther scored twice in the bottom of the second inning to tie the score at 2-2.
The three-run third inning would turn out to be the difference for Gustavus. Rachael Click was hit by a pitch to open the inning and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Emily Wendorff. Andrea Brown singled and advanced to second when the Norse tried unsuccessfully to throw Click out at third base. Prunty walked to load the bases and then Kelly Myers walked to score Click from third base giving the Gusties a 3-2 lead. Klass responded with a clutch two-out double that scored Brown and Prunty extending the Gustavus lead to 5-2.
Luther scored once in the sixth inning to cut the lead to 5-3, but that is as close as the Norse would get.
The Gusties improved to 37-7, while Luther fell to 34-10. Gustavus set a program record for games played in a season with 44. The previous record was 43 set in 2005.
Saturday’s schedule at the Indianola Regional has Wartburg facing Washington University of St. Louis in an elimination game at noon, followed by St. Thomas facing Luther in another elimination game at 2 pm. Gustavus will then play Webster in the winner’s bracket game at 4 pm. The winner of the Luther/St. Thomas game will play the winner of the Washington University/Wartburg game in the final game of the day at 6 pm.
If Gustavus defeats Webster, it will play on Sunday at 2 pm, however if the Gusties were to lose to Webster, they would play on Sunday at noon.
The winner of the regional advances to the Championship Finals at Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey on May 15-19.