MANKATO, Minn.  – The Luther College softball team is officially 4-0 to start the season. The Norse nabbed two big wins over nonconference opponents Sunday morning, downing both St. Catherine University and Macalester College in walk off fashion. In game one, Luther needed extras to defeat the Wildcats, as Leah Crown (Plato, Minn. / Central) provided the walk off hit to defeat St. Kate's 5-4 in eight innings. The Norse then followed that up with an 11-3, six inning victory over Macalester, helping Luther improve to 4-0 to open its 2023 campaign. 

GAME ONE: LUTHER (5) vs. ST. KATE'S (4) - 8 INNINGS
Things went very well for the Norse, right up to the fifth inning of play. Luther was rolling, both in the field and at the plate, as the team held a 2-0 lead over St. Kate's after the first three innings. The Norse scored the first run of the ballgame in the bottom of the second, as Leah Crown (Plato, Minn. / Plato) scored on a single through the right side by Riley Sauser (Ely, Iowa / Cedar Rapids Prairie) to make it 1-0 Luther after two. The Norse then added an insurance run in the bottom of the third, as Teagan Hansen (Plainview, Minn. / Plainview-Elgin-Millville) scored on a Belle Berg (Chatfield, Minn. / Chatfield) groundout to make it 2-0 after three.

St. Kate's cut the lead to 2-1 in the fourth, as a one out walk in the bottom of the order proved costly for Kendra Cooper (Lansing, Iowa / Kee) and Co. Still, Cooper was on fire in the circle, surrendering just one hit and two walks in four innings of work. However, things took a turn in the fifth. After opening the inning with a strikeout, Cooper gave up back-to-back walks to the WIldcats eight and nine hitters, allowing St. Kate's to take a 3-2 lead two batters later with a single up the middle. 

Cooper sent the Wildcats top hitters down in order in the top of the sixth and seventh innings, giving the Norse a chance to tie and take a lead in both innings. Luther's bats were unable to crack St. Kate's starting pitcher Alyssa Montero in the sixth, but they rallied in the seventh. Sauser opened the inning with a lead off double, prompting head coach Renae Hartl to sub in the speedy Alison Martinez (Brighton, Colo. / Brighton) as a pinch runner at second. The move paid off, as Martinez scored the game-tying run on a Wildcat error to send the game to extra innings. 

With the international run rule in place, St. Kate's opened the top of the eighth with a runner on second, who scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-3 Wildcats. However, the Norse opened the bottom of the inning with their own runner on base, as Ken Vavrichek (Bloomington, Minn. / The Blake School) was placed on second, giving Luther both speed and experience on the base paths. One pitch in, the sophomore was already on third base, as a wild pitch by Montero put Vavrichek 60 feet from home plate with zero outs on the board. 

With no outs and a runner on third, Vavrichek scored on an RBI double from Spore, tying the game at 4-4 with one out in the bottom of the eighth. A single by clean up hitter Berg eventually put runners on first and third for the Norse, again with just one out on the board and Crown coming to the plate. The senior center fielder delivered in a big way for the Norse, blasting a walk off double down the left field line to secure the 5-4 win for Luther. 

GAME TWO: LUTHER (11) vs. MACALESTER (3) - 6 INNINGS 
The Norse secured a very different walk off in game two, as they defeated the Scots 11-3 in six innings of work. While Macalester may have taken a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, it didn't take long for Luther to catch up, as the home team made quick work of the Scots starter. Within the first three batters, the Norse tied the game at 1-1 before taking a 3-1 lead on an RBI single by Berg. In the second inning, Luther tacked on even more runs, scoring five total on four hits and one Macalester error to gain an 8-1 advantage after two. 

Neither team scored in the third, but both the Scots and Norse scored two runs in the fourth inning, making it 10-3 with three innings left in the game. After an extra innings game against St. Kate's, Luther went to work ending things early, securing the eighth run in the bottom of the sixth. After first year Kenedy Sandoval (Aurora, Colo. / Smoky Hills) held the Scots at bay in the top of the inning, the Norse bats went to work, as Martinez drew a one out walk before Katie Brennan (Lansing, Iowa / Kee) reached on an error to put runners on first and second for Luther. This time around, Vavrichek played the walk off hero, as his single scored Martinez easily from second, allowing the Norse to end the game early with an 11-3 victory. 

TOP NORSE

• Abby Spore (Cedar Rapids, Iowa / Kennedy) was once again Luther's top hitter at the plate, going 4-6 with three RBI. She went 2-3 against both St. Kate's and Macalester, while first baseman Riley Sauser (Ely, Iowa / Cedar Rapids Prairie) went 2-3 with an RBI in the win over the Wildcats.
• Belle Berg (Chatfield, Minn. / Chatfield), Sauser and Ken Vavrichek (Bloomington, Minn. / The Blake School) were all 2-4 in the 11-3 win over the Scots and accounted for six of the team's 11 RBI in the win. 
• Kendra Cooper (Lansing, Iowa / Kee) improved to 2-0 on the year, as she earned her second victory of the season in the 5-4 win over St. Kate's. Cooper gave up four runs, three earned, in eight innings of work with 10 total strikeouts. 
• Sam Thompson (West Salem, Wis. / West Salem) also improved to 2-0, pitching four innings in Luther's 11-3 win over Macalester. 

UP NEXT
The Norse will return to action on March 4 as they host the annual Rochester Dome Games at the RCTC Dome in Rochester, Minnesota. Luther will open the tournament at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday with a game against North Central University before hosting Gustavus Adolphus College at 6:00 p.m.