Softball 3/24/02 -- Augsburg 3, Dubuque (Iowa) 1; Augsburg 4, Buena Vista (Iowa) 3

DUBUQUE GAME BOXSCORE
BUENA VISTA GAME BOXSCORE

KISSIMMEE, Fla. (3/24/02) -- Rachael Ekholm (Sr., Richfield, Minn.) scored two pitching victories, and Kristen Lideen (So., Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park HS) went 6-for-7 at the plate with three runs scored, as Augsburg College swept a pair of softball games to open its play in the Rebel Games tournament on Sunday at Osceola Stadium. Augsburg beat the University of Dubuque (Iowa) by a 3-1 score, then topped Buena Vista University (Iowa) 4-3.

Augsburg remains unbeaten at 2-0-1 overall.

Ekholm pitched all seven innings of the first game against Dubuque, striking out five while allowing just one walk and four hits. She relieved Auggie starter Becky Peters (So., Portage, Wis.) in the Buena Vista game and pitched 3.2 innings, striking out two. Ekholm, Augsburg's leading pitcher throughout her career, improved her career strikeout school record to 261.

Lideen went 3-for-3 at the plate, scoring a run in the Dubuque game, then went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI in the Buena Vista game.

Augsburg opened the scoring against Dubuque in the fourth inning, when Melissa Lee (So., Cannon Falls, Minn./Randolph HS) hit the first of her two doubles on the day, driving in Jennie LaManna (Sr., South St. Paul, Minn.). In the fifth, Augsburg scored wo runs, as Lideen reached on a single, stole second and scored as Becky Ruckel (Fr., Andover, Minn./Anoka HS) reached base on a fielding error. Ekholm later drove Ruckel in on a groundout.

Dubuque scored its only run in the sixth.

Augsburg opened the scoring against Buena Vista in the third, when Ekholm doubled in Lideen. The Auggies added two runs in the fourth, when Lideen hit a two-out, bases-loaded single to drive in Trisha Pederson (Fr., Proctor, Minn.) and Sam Kronschnabel (Jr., St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall HS).

Buena Vista tied the game in the bottom of the fourth, as Sara Salton scored on a double steal, Laura Lunders hit an RBI double and Kris Bordwell hit an RBI single.

But the Auggies scored the eventual game-winning run in the sixth, when Lideen tripled and scored as Ruckel reached base on a two-out fielding error.

Lee went 4-for-4 against Buena Vista, while Ekholm went 2-for-4. Lunders went 2-for-4 and Megan O'Malley went 2-for-3 with a run scored to lead Buena Vista. Gelene Bousum struck out six in a complete-game effort for Buena Vista.

Augsburg returns to action in the Rebel Games on Monday (3/25), facing Wisconsin-River Falls at 10:40 a.m. and St. Olaf College in a nonconference contest at 12:30 p.m.

Augsburg 3, Dubuque (Iowa) 1
Dubuque -- 000 001 0 -- 1-4-2
Augsburg -- 000 120 x -- 3-7-0
Duivo and Rechemacher; Ekholm and Lemke. WP-Ekholm, LP-Duivo.

Augsburg 4, Buena Vista (Iowa) 3
Augsburg -- 001 201 0 -- 4-13-1
Buena Vista -- 000 300 0 -- 3-8-2
Peters, Ekholm (4) and Lemke; Bousum and Richardson. WP-Ekholm, LP-Bousum.