Softball 4/10/01 -- Augsburg 8-8, Bethel 1-2
Boxscore Game 1
Boxscore Game 2

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. (4/10/01) -- Rachael Ekholm (Jr., Richfield, Minn.) hit her first career grand-slam home run and scored five times, while striking out seven to record two complete-game pitching victories, as Augsburg College swept host Bethel College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference softball doubleheader Tuesday afternoon at Cummings Field.

Augsburg won the first contest 8-1 and the second 8-2 to improve to 9-9 on the season and 2-2 in MIAC play. Bethel drops to 5-5 overall and 0-2 in the MIAC.

Ekholm's grand slam, her school-record sixth career home run, capped a six-run second inning in the first game. She scored three runs in the first contest, and added a single and scored twice in the second game.

Meanwhile, Ekholm was just as dominant on the pitching plate, as she struck out two Royals while allowing just two walks and four hits in the first contest, and struck out five while allowing two walks and three hits in the second game.

In the first game, Augsburg managed just six hits, but took advantage of three walks and an error to captialize on the Royals. Augsburg stranded just three runners in the contest.

Jennie LaManna (Jr., South St. Paul, Minn.) and Karen Tweeten (Jr., Spring Grove, Minn.) each had a run-scoring double in the first game for the Auggies, and each had two hits in the game.

Bethel scored its lone run in the fourth, when Emily Schmitz (So., New Prague, Minn.) scored after a fielding error.

Kristin Lundeen (So., Becker, Minn.) struck out two and walked three in a losing effort, but just three of her runs allowed were earned.

In the second game, Augsburg sent 10 batters to the plate in the first inning, driving in four runs. Brenda Selander (Sr., Oakdale, Minn./Tartan HS) drove in the first run of the game on a suicide-squeeze bunt, followed by a run-scoring single by LaManna an a two-run single by Angie Satre (Jr., Hoffman, Minn./West Central Area HS).

Another bunt, this time by Abby Mildbrand (Jr., Greenwood, Wis.), resulted in an error and a run scored for the Auggies in the fourth inning, and LaManna was plated on a single by Tweeten in the fifth. Tweeten gained two more RBI on a single in the seventh inning to drive in LaManna and Ekholm with the final runs of the day.

The Royals plated their only runs in the second inning, when Kara Wager (Fr., Arlington Heights, Ill.) drove in Beth Steward (Fr., Chippewa Falls, Wis.), who had led off the inning with a double. Lindsey Porter (Jr., Tustin, Calif.) later scored when Becky Foskett (Fr., Prior Lake, Minn.) reached base on a fielding error.

Beth Whitmore (Fr., Prior Lake, Minn.) took the pitching loss for the Royals, allowing five walks and six hits while striking out four.

Augsburg returns to action on Thursday (4/12) at 4 p.m., hosting St. Mary's in a MIAC doubleheader at Anderson-Nelson Field. Bethel returns to MIAC play on Wednesday (4/11) at 4 p.m., playing at Hamline.