GAME 1 BOX
GAME 2 BOX

MINNEAPOLIS (4/22/03) -- Augsburg College's Kristen Lideen (Jr., Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park HS), the leading hitter in the country in NCAA Division III softball, became Augsburg's all-time leader in doubles in going 5-for-7 at the plate on Tuesday, as the Auggies split a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference softball doubleheader with the College of St. Benedict at Augsburg's Edor Nelson Field.

Augsburg broke a nine-game losing streak in winning the first game 7-2. St. Benedict won the second contest 6-3. The Auggies are now 5-25 overall and 2-14 in MIAC play, while St. Benedict is now 13-11 overall and 8-6 in MIAC play.

With her single-season school-record 18th double of the season in the third inning of the first game, Lideen now has 35 doubles in her three-season career, breaking the old record of 34, held by Kristi Ockluly (1992-95). Lideen leads the nation among NCAA Division III softball players in batting average, hitting .533. Lideen went 4-for-4 in the first game, driving in two runs and scoring once. She went 1-for-3 with a run scored in the second contest.

A six-run fourth inning, when Augsburg sent 10 batters to the plate, spelled the difference in the first game. Melissa Lee (Jr., Cannon Falls, Minn./Randolph HS) and Jennifer Lemke (Sr., Kenyon, Minn./Kenyon-Wanamingo HS) each had run-scoring singles, and Lideen and Sam Kronschnabel (Sr., St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall HS) each drove in two runs on singles, as Augsburg had six hits in the frame.

Kronschnabel drove in another run on a single in the seventh inning. She went 2-for-4 with three RBI. Eight different Auggies had hits in the game.

St. Benedict scored two runs on two hits and a two-run fielding error in the top of the seventh inning.

Augsburg pitcher Shelley Harris (Fr., Minneapolis, Minn./Southwest HS), throwing just 63 pitches in a complete-game effort, picked up the win for the Auggies, striking out three and not walking a batter. She allowed just three Blazer hits in the first game, and both runs against her were unearned.

Lindsey Peterson (So., Hopkins, Minn.) took the loss for the Blazers, throwing 107 pitches. She struck out six and walked one, but allowed 12 hits.

Augsburg scored three runs in the first two innings of the second game, but St. Benedict pulled away with a big inning of its own, with a four-run fourth frame.

A run-scoring single by Kari Dykhoff (Jr., Wadena, Minn./Wadena-Deer Creek HS) put the Blazers on the board in the third inning. In the fourth, the Blazers took advantage of two Auggie fielding errors to score their runs. Michelle Boys (So., Eden Prairie, Minn./Minnetonka HS) had a run-scoring single, and the other runs came across on an error, a bases-loaded hit batter and a groundout by Shawn Seebach (Fr., St. Peter, Minn.).

Boys drove in another run for the Blazers in the fifth inning, on a two-out RBI single. Boys went 3-for-5 in the second game, driving in two runs. Dykhoff went 2-for-3, and Katie Ponsolle (So., Woodbury, Minn./Hill-Murray HS) went 2-for-4 with arun scored. Steph Schirmers (Jr., Willmar, Minn.) scored three runs for the Blazers.

Augsburg took an early lead on a run-scoring single by Lee in the first inning. A triple by Jennie LaManna (Sr., South St. Paul, Minn.) set the table in the second, followed by RBI doubles from Cassie Hoss (Fr., Brooklyn Park, Minn./Champlin Park HS) and Lemke to give the Auggies an early 3-0 lead. Hoss went 2-for-2 for the Auggies in he second contest.

Ani Jordan (Jr., Vadnais Heights, Minn./White Bear Lake HS) struck out seven to pick up the win for St. Benedict. She didn't walk a batter and allowed six hits.

Starter Hoss took the loss, with three of the five runs against her earned in her 3.1 innings of work. Harris pitched 3.2 innings, allowing four hits.

Both teams return to MIAC action on Thursday (4/24), with St. Benedict playing at Macalester at 4 p.m., and Augsburg hosting St. Olaf in the final home game of the season at Edor Nelson Field at 5 p.m.