Softball 3/4-5/06 -- Augsburg at Finlandia (Mich.) Dome Tournament

FINLANDIA GAME BOXSCORE
EDGEWOOD GAME BOXSCORE
CONCORDIA-RIVER FOREST GAME BOXSCORE
CROWN GAME BOXSCORE

MARQUETTE, Mich. (3/4-5/06) -- The Augsburg College softball team opened its season with four victories at the Finlandia University Dome Tournament, held Saturday and Sunday at the Superior Dome.

The Auggies opened the tournament with a 9-4 win over host Finlandia, then topped Edgewood College (Wis.) 7-4 on Saturday. On Sunday, the Auggies won two games that were shortened to five innings due to the NCAA eight-run rule, topping Concordia University-River Forest (Ill.) 8-0 and Crown College 11-1. As a team, Augsburg hit .393 (42-of-107) and outscored its opponents 35-9.

AugsburgÂ's Ashley Westerman (So., Bemidji, Minn.) went 7-for-10 (.700) on the weekend, scoring five runs and driving in four. Shortstop and leadoff hitter Jolene Ross (So., Arden Hills, Minn./Mounds View HS) hit .571 (8-for-14), scoring six runs and driving in three. Jacci Mattern (Fr., Lakeville, Minn.), making her Auggie debut in left field, hit .600 (6-for-10) with five runs scored and two RBI.

Trista Gundersen (Jr., Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial HS) hit .444 on the weekend, and Jodi Boyd (Sr., Hartley, Iowa/Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn HS) hit .400 with four RBI and a triple. Three Auggies also hit homers -- Sarah Green (Fr., Winnebago, Minn./Blue Earth Area HS), Kati Tweeten (Jr., Spring Grove, Minn.) and Lisa Uehling (Jr., Rochester, Minn./Mayo HS).

Augsburg pitchers combined for a 1.46 earned-run average on the weekend. Shelley Harris (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./Southwest HS) struck out five while walking one in the win over Finlandia, then struck out two without a walk in the win over Concordia. Green picked up victories over Edgewood and Crown, combining for three strikeouts while allowing 10 hits.

Augsburg hitters combined for 11 extra-base hits on the weekend, including seven doubles. As a team, Augsburg had a .561 slugging percentage and .460 on-base percentage on the weekend.

In the opener against Finlandia, Ross went 3-for-5 at the plate, while Audra Thimmesch-Gill (Sr., St. Paul, Minn./Central HS), Westerman, Mattern and Gundersen had two hits each, as Augsburg collected 15 hits in the game.

Augsburg built a 6-1 lead after four innings in the victory over Edgewood, as Ross and Mattern collected two hits apiece, and Tweeten and Uehling hit homers.

Against Concordia, Augsburg scored four runs each in the first and third innings, with Westerman collecting three doubles, scoring two runs and driving in two. Green also had a double, and Mattern had two hits.

Augsburg scored nine runs in the first two innings against Crown, as Green hit a home run, Boyd had a triple and Tweeten and Green had doubles. Ross, Green, Gundersen and Boyd had two hits apiece, with Green driving in three runs and Westerman and Boyd driving in two.

Augsburg returns to action with competition at the Rebel Spring Games in Kissimmee, Fla., March 19-23. Augsburg will play 10 games in a five-day span at the tournament.