ALDEN – Erin Anderson didn’t overpower the Alden-Conger Knights.

Thursday, April 26, 2001

ALDEN – Erin Anderson didn’t overpower the Alden-Conger Knights.

She didn’t even shut them out.

But the outcome was never in doubt.

Anderson pitched a no-hitter and New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva scored early and often while winning 17-1 in five innings in a Gopher Conference softball game at Alden Tuesday.

The win kept the Panthers unbeaten at 3-0 in the conference and 4-0 overall while the Knights dropped to 2-2 and 3-4.

Anderson, a freshman right-hander and a second-year starter, struck out four batters and walked one.

&uot;It was obviously another good pitching job by Erin,&uot; said Panthers coach Wendy Schultz. &uot;We also played some good defense.&uot;

Some of it was played by Anderson, who snared a pair of sharply-hit line drives in the early innings. The Knights hit several other balls well but it was either right at somebody or the Panthers made a nice play. Alden-Conger had three baserunners for the day.

The Panthers put eight runs on the board in the top of the first and added eight in the third.

Megan Routh was 2-for-3, Jenny Schroeder 2-for-4 with an RBI. Lacey Peterson and Anderson each had a hit and two RBIs, Holly Waldhauser and Jennie Gollhofer a hit and one RBI. Kathleen Byron and Lindsey Cornelius added one hit apiece.

Erin VanEnglenburg was the Knights’ starting pitcher, going 2 1/3 innings. Tasha Lackey went the rest of the way.

&uot;We just need to do a better job throwing strikes and, when we do pitch, play defense,&uot; said Knights coach Gary Nelson. &uot;We hit the ball today, but just right at them, and they played good defense.&uot;

Both teams play today. The Panthers host Blooming Prairie in a battle for first place in the conference while the Knights host Waterville-Elysian-Morristown.