Softball 4/9/08 -- Augsburg 8-6, Macalester 4-5 (2nd game 11 innings)
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MINNEAPOLIS (4/9/08) -- Ashley Westerman (SR, Bemidji, Minn.) delivered the game-winning hit with an RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning of the second game, ending up 5-for-9 at the plate with two doubles, two triples and five RBI in the doubleheader, as her Augsburg College softball team swept visiting Macalester College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader on Wednesday evening at Augsburg's Edor Nelson Field.
Whitney Restemayer (SO, Bemidji, Minn.) had four hits, including two doubles, in the doubleheader, while Tiffany Magnuson (JR, Green Bay, Wis./Notre Dame Academy HS) also had four hits, with a triple, for Augsburg (11-15 overall, 7-1 MIAC). Jolene Ross (SR, Arden Hills, Minn./Mounds View HS) also had four hits in the doubleheader for the Auggies.
The 7-1 start to the MIAC season is Augsburg's best eight-game start to conference play since also starting 7-1 in the 1994 campaign (14-22 overall, 12-10 MIAC).
For Macalester (6-12 overall, 1-5 MIAC), Amanda Cagan (SO, Saratoga, Calif./Monta Vista HS) had three hits in the doubleheader, including two doubles, with two RBI. Katie Grudnowski (SR, Minnetonka, Minn./Blake HS) and Hayley Reeves (FY, Oberlin, Ohio) had two doubles each, with Grudnowski driving in two runs and Reeves driving in three runs.
Augsburg led 4-2 after five innings of the second game, but the Scots scored twice in the top of the seventh inning, on a two-run single by Lisa Moldan (FY, Sleepy Eye, Minn./St. Mary's HS), to force extra innings. A double by Cagan drove in a run in the 10th inning, but Augsburg answered with a run in the bottom of the frame, as a Sarah Mueller (JR, Green Bay, Wis./Green Bay Southwest HS) bunt single plated Jennifer Castillo (FY, Minneapolis, Minn./Washburn HS).
Relief pitcher Sarah Green (JR, Winnebago, Minn./Blue Earth Area HS) struck out Macalester in the top of the 11th inning. In the bottom of the frame, Jessa Hinz (FY, Richfield, Minn.) reached base on a walk, stole second and moved to third on a base hit by Ross. Westerman then singled to left field to drive home Hinz with the game-winning run, ending the marathon, 2:29 game played in cold early-spring conditions.
In the first game, Augsburg rallied from a 4-0, second-inning deficit to claim the win. The Auggies used a five-run fifth inning, sending 11 batters to the plate and using six hits and two errors, to pull away from the Scots.
Magnuson went 3-for-5 for the Auggies in the first game, while Westerman, Mueller and Green had two hits each, with Green driving in two runs. Green had a solo home run, her second homer of the season and sixth of her career, in the second inning for the Auggies. Six of Augsburg's 12 hits in the game were extra-base hits, with Westerman hitting two doubles and Restemayer, Hinz and Melissa Larsen (JR, Andover, Minn.) also hitting doubles.
Reeves also had two doubles in the first game for the Scots, who were limited to just four hits against three Augsburg pitchers. Macalester pitchers went the distance in each game -- Olivia Abbott (SO, Lakewood, Colo./Green Mountain HS) and Ali Nystrom (SO, Minnetonka, Minn.) in the first game.
Augsburg returns to MIAC play on Saturday (4/12) at 1 p.m., hosting Hamline in a doubleheader. Macalester has an MIAC doubleheader at Gustavus on Friday (4/11) at 4 p.m.
