GAME 1 BOX | GAME 2 BOX

WINONA, Minn. -- Making her first collegiate start, Augsburg College's Kylee Persing (FY, Mound, Minn./Mound-Westonka HS) threw a two-hitter over six innings, leading the Auggies to a second-game victory and a split with host St. Mary's University in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference softball doubleheader on Thursday afternoon at the SMU Field.

Persing struck out two while allowing just two hits and one unearned run in Augsburg's (7-25 overall, 5-9 MIAC) 5-1 victory in the second game. St. Mary's (15-11 overall, 7-7 MIAC) won the first game 12-4 in a game ended after five innings due to the NCAA's eight-run rule.

With the second-game win, Augsburg broke a 29-game, 15-season losing streak to the Cardinals. Augsburg's last win over the Cardinals was a doubleheader sweep in the 1994 season.

Augsburg built a 5-0 lead in the second game, keyed by a 10-hit effort from the top half of the Auggie batting order. Augsburg had 14 hits -- all singles -- in the game.

Leadoff hitter Tiffany Magnuson (SR, Green Bay, Wis./Notre Dame Academy HS) went 3-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored, while Jennifer Castillo (SO, Minneapolis, Minn./Washburn HS), Amanda Schwartz (FY, Becker, Minn.) and Laura Strandell (SO, Pine Island, Minn.) had two hits each.

Castillo and Strandell drove in two runs apiece for the Auggies, while Schwartz had the other Auggie RBI. In the No. 8 spot in the order, Cassie Crego (FY, Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North HS) went 3-for-4 with two stolen bases and two runs scored.

Magnuson finished the game in the pitching circle for the Auggies, with a strikeout to earn the save in protection of Persing's victory.

St. Mary's pounded out 13 hits en route to the first-game victory, ending the game early with a four-run fifth inning. Magnuson drove in two of Augsburg's five runs in the game.

Augsburg returns to MIAC play on Saturday (4/18), hosting St. Olaf at Edor Nelson Field. The start time for the doubleheader has been pushed forward to 10 a.m.