Softball 4/23/08 -- Augsburg 9-6, Carleton 5-1
CLICK HERE FOR GAME 1 BOXSCORE
CLICK HERE FOR GAME 2 BOXSCORE
CLICK HERE FOR AUGSBURG SEASON STATISTICS
MINNEAPOLIS (4/23/08) -- Tiffany Magnuson (JR, Green Bay, Wis./Notre Dame Academy HS) drove in three runs on a 2-for-4 performance in the first game, with a run-scoring double and a two-run, inside-the-park home run, leading the Augsburg College softball team to a sweep of a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader with Carleton College on Wednesday evening at Augsburg's Edor Nelson Field.
Ashley Westerman (SR, Bemidji, Minn.) and Sarah Mueller (JR, Green Bay, Wis./Southwest HS) had four hits with a double and an RBI each for the Auggies (16-20 overall, 12-6 MIAC), who swept the Knights (0-26 overall, 0-16 MIAC) by scores of 9-5 and 6-1. Westerman scored three runs in the doubleheader and had four stolen bases in the second game, while Mueller scored two runs. Jolene Ross (SR, Arden Hills, Minn./Mounds View HS) had three hits and drove in two runs in the doubleheader.
With its 12 league victories, Augsburg clinched its first above-.500 finish in MIAC play since 1998 (13-9 MIAC, 19-19 overall). Augsburg remains in the hunt for one of the four spots in the MIAC's postseason playoffs, with two conference doubleheaders remaining in the regular season.
For Carleton, B.G. Green (FY, McLean, Va./Potomac School) had two doubles and an RBI, while Andrea Duron (JR, Claremont, Calif./Vivian Webb School), Zoe Harris (FY, San Francisco, Calif./Urban School of San Francisco) and Emily Maland (JR, Brattleboro, Vt./Brattleboro Union HS) had two hits apiece. Michael Johnson (SO, Minneapolis, Minn./Blake HS) hit a two-run triple for the Knights in the first game.
Sarah Green (JR, Winnebago, Minn./Blue Earth Area HS) picked up both pitching victories for the Auggies to improve to 10-11 on the season, striking out four while walking one and allowing six hits in eight innings of work. Melissa Larsen (JR, Andover, Minn.) scored saves for the Auggies in both games, with two strikeouts in 1.2 innings in the first game, and one strikeout and just one hit allowed in three innings of work in the second game. Maland pitched all 12 innings of work for the Knights, striking out five while walking two.
In the first game, Augsburg rallied from a 1-0 third-inning deficit to score the win. Magnuson's two-run, inside-the-park homer in the bottom of the third gave the Auggies the lead, and they expanded the advantage to 6-1 with two runs in the fourth inning and two runs in the fifth. Westerman and Mueller each had RBI doubles in the fifth.
Johnson's two-run triple and an RBI double by B.G. Green enabled Carleton to cut the lead to 6-4 in the top of the sixth, but Augsburg pulled away with three runs in the bottom of the inning, keyed on an RBI double by Magnuson and a two-run single by Ross. A double by Carleton's Elise Johnson (SR, Grantsburg, Wis.) in the seventh closed the scoring.
In the second game, Augsburg took advantage of three hits and two errors to score three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Jennifer Castillo (FY, Minneapolis, Minn./Washburn HS) had a run-scoring single in the inning, and two more runs came across on a throwing error.
Carleton cut the lead to 3-1 on a run-scoring double by Duron in the top of the second, but the Auggies clinched the victory as Westerman stole second and third bases and on a throwing error in the third inning, and Laura Strandell (FY, Pine Island, Minn.) hit a run-scoring triple and scored on a wild pitch in the fourth.
Augsburg returns to MIAC play with a home doubleheader against Hamline on Thursday (4/24) at 5 p.m. at Edor Nelson Field, while Carleton returns to MIAC play on Friday (4/25), hosting a doubleheader against St. Benedict.
