Softball 3/30/06 -- Augsburg 5-8, Martin Luther 0-0 (2nd game 6 inn.)

GAME 1 BOXSCORE
GAME 2 BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (3/30/06) -- Kati Tweeten (Jr., Spring Grove, Minn.) went 3-for-3 in the first game, and Tiffany Magnuson (Fr., Green Bay, Wis./Notre Dame Academy HS) hit her first collegiate home run in the second contest, as the Augsburg College softball team claimed a nonconference doubleheader sweep of Martin Luther College on Thursday evening at Edor Nelson Field.

Augsburg won both games by shutouts, 5-0 in the first game and 8-0 in the second game, shortened to six innings due to the NCAA eight-run rule. With the wins, Augsburg broke a 10-game losing streak in improving to 7-11 overall. Martin Luther is now 2-8 overall.

Shelley Harris (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./Southwest HS) collected three strikeouts in a complete-game effort to win the first game, allowing just four hits and four walks, with all eight Martin Luther runners stranded. Meanwhile, Sarah Green (Fr., Winnebago, Minn./Blue Earth Area HS) struck out six while walking one and allowing just four Martin Luther hits to earn the second-game victory.

Five straight base hits, incluidng a run-scoring triple by Jacci Mattern (Fr., Lakeville, Minn.) and an RBI single by Green, gave the Auggies a 2-0 lead in the first inning of the first game. Another run came across in the fourth inning after a throwing error. Two more Auggies scored in the sixth, following a single, a throwing error on a sacrifice-bunt attempt, and a sacrifice fly.

The Auggies took the lead in the second game on an RBI single by Ashley Westerman (So., Bemidji, Minn.), who drove in Tweeten. Leading off the third inning, Magnuson stroked a solo home run over the right-field fence.

Augsburg sent 11 batters to the plate and scored five runs on just one base hit in the fourth inning, taking advantage of three errors and five walks. A two-run single by Jolene Ross (So., Arden Hills, Minn./Mounds View HS) was the lone hit of the inning. Ross ended up going 2-for-3 in the second game. The Auggies clinched the win in the sixth inning, on a run-scoring single by Trista Gundersen (Jr., Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial HS), plating Tweeten, who started the inning with a double to the left-center gap.

Becky Hering (Jr., Grafton, Wis.) took the pitching loss for the Knights in the first game, while Jamie Boldt (So., Morton Grove, Ill.) took the loss in the second, with Hering pitching in relief.

Amanda Schaffer (Jr., Oakley, Mich.), Katie Vogt (Jr., Sheboygan, Wis.) and Megan Kieker (Fr., Watertown, Wis.) had two hits each for Martin Luther in the doubleheader, with Janelle Zahn (Fr., Elkhorn, Wis.) collecting the other hit.

Augsburg hosts Gustavus in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader on Saturday (4/1) at 1 p.m., at Edor Nelson Field. Martin Luther returns to action on Monday (4/3) with a nonconference doubleheader at Hamline.