Softball 4/29/02 -- St. Catherine 3-10, Augsburg 0-7

GAME 1 BOXSCORE
GAME 2 BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (4/29/02) -- Augsburg College's Rachael Ekholm (Sr., Richfield, Minn.) continued her record-setting season at the plate with her third two-home run performance of the season, but it was the College of St. Catherine that made its own history in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference softball doubleheader sweep of the host Auggies on Monday at Edor Nelson Field.

In claiming the wins, 3-0 and 10-7, St. Catherine completed its first-ever doubleheader sweep of Augsburg. It was the first time in head coach Carol Enke's 17-year tenure that Augsburg had lost to St. Catherine, breaking a 31-game Augsburg winning streak. Since the Wildcats began playing softball in 1985, Augsburg is now 32-3 in the all-time series.

St. Catherine is now 11-18 overall and 7-11 in MIAC play, while Augsburg drops to 9-19-1 overall and 5-13 in MIAC play.

St. Catherine's Ana Fernandez (Jr., West Chicago, Ill.) pitched all but one inning to complete the doubleheader sweep, striking out six Auggies in the first game and 10 in the second. On the other side of the legder, Ekholm pitched two complete games for the Auggies, striking out five in the first game and two in the second. Just five of the 10 runs charged against her in the second game were earned, as Augsburg committed four costly errors.

In the first game, St. Catherine jumped on the board in the second inning, when Joan DeCrans (So., Nevis, Minn.) doubled to drive in Fernandez, who had opened the inning with a single. The Wildcats struck twice in the third frame, as Jennifer Korba (Fr., Lakeland, Minn.) singled to drive in Kelly Gulden (Jr., Apple Valley, Minn.), and Fernandez singled to bring home Korba.

Fernandez then corralled Augsburg to notch her third shutout win of the season, allowing just six Auggie hits in the game. She also led her side with two hits in the game. Fernandez faced her biggest threat in the bottom of the seventh, when the Auggies worked the bases loaded with two outs. But a solo groundout to the first baseman ended the game.

Melissa Lee (So., Cannon Falls, Minn./Randolph HS) led Augsburg with a 2-for-3 performance at the plate.

Ekholm put the Auggies in front early in the second game, as she stroked a two-run homer to center field in the bottom of the first inning. In the third, Ekholm doubled to drive in another run, and she stroked her second homer of the game, a solo shot to lead off the fifth inning.

It was the third time that Ekholm has hit two homers in a game this season; she previously accomplished the feat in a 6-3 loss to Clarke (Iowa) at the Rebel Games in Florida on March 26 and in Friday's 8-3 win at St. Olaf. She is the only Augsburg player ever to hit two homers in a single game, and one of just four MIAC players to accomplish the feat this season. She ended up 3-for-3 with three runs scored and four RBI in Monday's second game.

However, the Wildcats scored nine runs in the late innings to pull away from the Auggies. A five-run fourth inning put St. Catherine ahead to stay, and three runs in the fifth and a single run in the sixth gave the Wildcats a comfortable cushion.

Jessica Albrecht (So., Monticello, Minn.) opened the Wildcat floodgates in the fourth with a single to bring home Tami Brings (Fr., Big Lake, Minn.). Patty Bredemus (So., Coon Rapids, Minn.) then singled to brong home DeCrans, and Gulden then drove two runs in on a double to center field, plating Albrecht and Clare Grundtner (Jr., St. Paul, Minn.). Beth Janni (Sr., New Ulm, Minn.) hit a two-out double to bring home Gulden.

Fernandez opened the fifth inning with a double, and later scored with a pickoff attempt sailed into center field on a throwing error. Another error in the inning plated two more Wildcats run. Korba scored on an RBI single by Brings in the sixth to complete the Wildcat scoring.

Augsburg built a threat in the late innings as well, scoring once in the fifth on Ekholm's homer and twice in the sixth, as Kristen Lideen (So., Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park HS) doubled, Ekholm was intentionally walked and Lee got a hit, combined with a throwing error, to bring both runs home.

All but one starter claimed a base hit for the Wildcats, who stroked 13 hits to Augsburg's 11. Bredemus went 3-for-5 to lead the Wildcat onslaught, while Janni, Brings and Albrecht had two hits apiece. In addition to Ekholm's 3-for-3 performance, Ruckel, Lee and Christine Mathews (Fr., Robbinsdale, Minn./Cooper HS) had two hits each.

Augsburg will return to MIAC action on Wednesday (5/1) with a 5 p.m. doubleheader against Carleton at Edor Nelson Field. St. Catherine returns to action on Thursday (5/2), hosting Bethel in a rescheduled MIAC dcoubleheader at 4 p.m.