GAME 1 BOX | GAME 2 BOX

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. -- Bri Dorale (FY, Ramsey, Minn./Anoka HS) stole four bases in five attempts in the doubleheader, and Jessa Hinz (JR, Richfield, Minn.) had a double and triple among her three hits, but the Augsburg College softball team dropped a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference twinbill at Bethel University on Thursday afternoon at the Ona North Athletic Complex.

Augsburg (21-17 overall, 11-9 MIAC) dropped the first game 4-3 to Bethel (21-17 overall, 13-7 MIAC), and fell in the second game 5-3. Augsburg is one of five teams with 11 or more victories in conference play, all remaining in contention for the final two spots in the four-team MIAC postseason playoffs. Augsburg closes its regular season on Friday (4/30) at 4 p.m. with a doubleheader at St. Olaf (14-18 overall, 11-7 MIAC).

Dorale had three stolen bases in the first game and one in the second, giving her 31 steals in 35 attempts this season, a stolen base total that leads the MIAC's overall statistics by 13 over the nearest competitor. Dorale is also leading the Auggies with a .374 batting average and .455 on-base percentage.

Augsburg received complete-game efforts from both of its pitchers. Melissa Larsen (SR, Andover, Minn.) allowed just eight hits in the first game, with only one earned run allowed. In the second game, Kylee Persing (SO, Mound, Minn./Mound-Westonka HS) struck out six while allowing five hits, while allowing just two earned runs.

In the first game, Augsburg built a 3-0 lead in the third inning. In the first frame, a double by Jennifer Castillo (JR, Minneapolis, Minn./Washburn HS) drove home Dorale. In the third inning, Dorale stole both second and third bases and came home on a throwing error, and Brittney Bruzek (JR, Alexandria, Minn./Jefferson HS) drove home Castillo on a single.

But the Royals tied the game with three unearned runs in the bottom of the third, all after two outs were recorded, then took the lead with a run on a single in the fourth inning. Augsburg was retired in order in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, and had the potential game-tying run stranded at third in the seventh inning to end the game.

In the second game, Bethel scored four runs in the third inning, with the big hit a three-run double by Rachel Gilbert (FY, Becker, Minn.). Another run came across in the fifth for the Royals on a Gilbert RBI groundout.

Augsburg scored two runs in the fourth inning, on an RBI groundout by Bruzek and a run-scoring single by Laura Strandell (JR, Pine Island, Minn.). In the seventh inning, Shawna Middleton (FY, Hastings, Minn.) doubled and her pinch-runner, Marissa Lurken (FY, Kenyon, Minn./Kenyon-Wanamingo HS), scored on a double by Stephanie Saxe (SO, Stacy, Minn./North Branch HS).

Gilbert and Nea Harkness (SR, Winthrop, Minn./Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop HS) had three hits each for Bethel in the doubleheader.