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STAYING ALIVE: Norse Softball Wins At Regionals
 GLENDIVE, Montana---The Bay College Norse live to fight another day. After losing the first game of the NJCAA Regional Tournament on Friday, the Norse softball team bounced back on Saturday to win two games to advance to the Final Three of the event in Glendive, Montana. Bay defeated fellow Upper Peninsula team, Gogebic Community College, 20-3, in five innings, and then powered past Region Lake State College, 8-2. The Norse will get a rematch with Dakota County Technical College on Sunday, and need a win to have a shot at the host Dawson Community College in the championship game. The Samsons jumped to a 3-0 lead over the Norse in the first inning when Sarah Thidgeon hit a three-run homer off Bay starting pitcher Lexi Winling. The Norse got a run back the bottom of the first, then grabbed the lead with five runs in the second inning to take a 6-3 lead. Kaitlyn Hardwick’s RBI triple was a highlight during that inning, then the Norse scored four more runs in the bottom of the third inning. Beth Gannigan smacked a fly ball to center field, then after Emily LaFave singled, Eve LaFleche ripped a two-run homer to make it 9-3. The Norse put the game away with eleven more runs in the fourth inning, Gannigan had a line drive single to bring in two runs, then Paige Welch got a two-run single to make it 14-3. Gannigan closed the scoring with her fifth RBI when she singled home Claire McInerney. Bay had 14 hits in the game, and GCC committed seven errors on defense.  Then in the second inning, the Norse took a 2-0 lead when Emily Bruntjens ripped a triple and scored on a wild pitch. McAlpine followed with a double, and she rode home on a long two-run homer by Hardwick. It stayed 4-0 until the bottom of the fourth, when Bruntjens got another triple to bring home LaFave, and Bruntjens scored on a McAlpine sacrifice fly. Rhiley Hubert pitched the first four innings, allowing just one hit. She gave way to Winling, who worked into and out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the fifth, then Saunders clubbed a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth. That made it 7-0. In the sixth inning,, the Royals got on the board with a pair of solo home runs by Tyra Robertson and Samantha Shumway. But Richelle Vandeville’s RBI single in the bottom of the inning got one of those runs back, and Winling set down the side in the seventh inning to end the game. Bay College improved to 27-8 on the season and will face Dakota County at noon MT (2:00 Eastern) on Sunday. If they win, then the Norse will play the host Dawson Bucs in the championship round. Should the Norse win, the championship game will be broadcast on WCHT-AM (NewsTalk 600) and on-line at www.rrnsports.com.  |
