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Box Score
WHITEWATER Wis. – Junior All-American Becca Girvan kept the North Central College hitters off balance all afternoon, holding them to four hits on Saturday as Luther College advanced to the championship game of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Regional with a 4-2 victory over the Cardinals.
North Central (34-11) will take on College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin rival Carthage College in a do or die scenario tomorrow at noon. The Lady Reds are 3-0 against North Central so far this season. The Cardinals must now win at noon tomorrow, and beat Luther twice consecutively to win the tournament and advance to the national tournament in Eau Claire, Wis. next weekend.
The Norse took an early 1-0 lead in the first on an RBI groundout by Kelsey Weindruch that scored leadoff hitter Shari Huber.
Girvan didn't allow the Cardinals on the board until the fourth when North Central used a little small ball to get across its first run.
Vlasta Mangia led off the inning with an infield single, and was bunted into scoring position by
Amanda Walker. After a walk by
Kiersten Tinkoff,
Carly Trenhaile continued her hot hitting with an RBI single to right to score Mangia and tie the game at one.
The Norse, however, were quick to respond and scored two runs on three hits in the fourth, and after a scoreless fifth by North Central, Weindruch blasted a solo homer to left to give Luther a 4-1 lead.
North Central's best chance for a rally came in the sixth inning. With the bases loaded and two down,
Jordyn Beck singled to right to score Walker and when Tinkoff took too big a turn at third, the Norse defense was able to nail her heading back to the base on an assist by the catcher to end the inning.
Trenhaile led the offense again with two of the team's four hits, and Tinkoff walked twice.
