Softball 4/27/05 -- Gustavus Adolphus 5-8, Augsburg 0-3

GAME 1 BOXSCORE
GAME 2 BOXSCORE

STORY FROM GUSTAVUS SPORTS INFORMATION

ST. PETER, Minn. (4/27/05) -- The Gustavus Adolphus College softball team clinched a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoff spot by sweeping visiting Augsburg College 5-0 and 8-3 on a cold and blustery Wednesday afternoon in St. Peter. The Gusties are now 21-13 overall and 15-3 in the MIAC, while Augsburg is now 8-22 overall, 4-14 in MIAC play.

In game one, Joyce DeWitz shut Augsburg down, limiting the Auggies to only two hits and not allowing a runner past second base in her six innings on the mound. Jenna Ruhl came in to pitch the seventh inning for Gustavus.

Jolene Ross (Fr., Arden Hills, Minn./Mounds View HS) and Trista Gundersen (So., Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial HS) had the lone Auggie hits in the first game.

Gustavus scored the only runs it would need in the third inning, when Whitney Bartolo hit a two-out single that scored Julie Mahre and Mary Furlong. The Gusties added three more runs in the fifth on three hits and two Augsburg errors. Audrey Lenoch contributed the key hit, a single that drove in two runs.

In game two, Gustavus took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, aided by back-to-back doubles by Lenoch and Dawn Lewis. The Auggies scored three runs in the top of the third to tie the game at 3-3. A two-run triple by Kati Tweeten (So., Spring Grove, Minn.) and RBI single by Ashley Westerman (Fr., Bemidji, Minn.) provided the runs in the frame.

The Gusties took a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the third, then extended the lead to 5-3 in the bottom of the fourth. Gustavus broke the game open with three more runs in the bottom of the sixth.

Janie Hanson was the winning pitcher for Gustavus. She pitched the first three innings allowing five hits and three runs (one earned). DeWitz pitched the final four innings allowing three hits while not allowing a run.

Lewis went 4-for-4 at the plate and drove in two runs, while Mahre went 3-for-4 and drove in one run. Mahre was 5-for-8 in the two games for Gustavus.

Tweeten and Melynda Kleewein (Sr., Anchorage, Alaska/Dimond HS) had two hits apiece for the Auggies in the second game. Ross, Gundersen, Westerman and Jackie Bohmbach (So., Hudson, Wis.) had the other Auggie hits, with Ross, Kleewein and Tweeten scoring runs.

Augsburg pitcher Shelley Harris (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn./Southwest HS) pitched complete-game efforts in both games. She struck out two in the second game.

Both teams are back in action on Thursday (4/28) at 4 p.m. with MIAC doubleheaders. Augsburg will host St. Benedict at Edor Nelson Field in the Auggies' home finale, while the third-place Gusties will host fourth-place Hamline.