MELBOURNE, Fla. - St. Norbert College closed out its annual trip to Florida with two dominant victories at the Space Coast Games, dismantling Rutgers-Newark 11-1 and shutting down Webster University 10-4 in two non-conference games.
The Green Knights (8-6) recorded an overall record of 7-3 in Florida over the past week, their best mark on a spring break trip since 2013.
The Green Knights took a 1-0 lead over the Scarlet Raiders on an error in the first inning, adding two more in second inning to make it 3-0. Sophia Nieckula, Ava Engwall and Allison Ardito all scored in the third inning with the bases loaded, with the Scarlet Raiders giving up two walks and one hit by pitch to St. Norbert. A Morgan Hansel single scored Grendel Sprong in the fourth inning to make it 7-0. Hansel and Abigail Tegen scored on a Rutgers-Newark error in the same frame, while an Elly Kirst (pictured) triple scored two more runs to make it 11-0.
Sprong went 3-for-3 with an RBI, while Kirst had one hit and four RBIs.
Addison Luebke won her third game of the season, pitching five innings with three strikeouts while allowing one run on four hits.
In the finale, St. Norbert led 6-0 after the top of the second inning against the Gorlocks. A Morgan Jarvi two-run single made it 3-0 in the first, with three more coming in the second. Webster scored one run in the bottom of the second to stay in the game, but a triple from Emma Schmidt scored Jarvi in the third to make it 7-1. Schmidt scored one more run in the inning on a error by the Gorlocks as the Green Knights continued to pile up runs. An Engwall triple scored Hansel in the fifth, while Magdeline Hanmann scored on a wild pitch to grow an 11-3 advantage.
Engwall and Jarvi both had three hits and two RBIs, while Kirst, Reichenberger, Hanmann and Schmidt had two hits.
Addison Maurer earned her third win of the year, pitching four innings and allowing two earned runs on three hits.