GAME 1 BOX | GAME 2 BOX

MINNEAPOLIS -- Jessa Hinz (JR, Richfield, Minn.) went 5-for-7 with four doubles and six runs scored in the doubleheader, and Bri Dorale (FY, Ramsey, Minn./Anoka HS) stole six bases and scored four runs, as Augsburg College swept visiting Macalester College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference softball doubleheader on Wednesday afternoon at Edor Nelson Field.

Augsburg (12-8 overall, 2-0 MIAC) won the first game 10-2 in five innings, and won the second game 11-3 in six innings, with both games ended early due to the NCAA eight-run rule. Augsburg has won its last seven games in a row, and is now off to its best start after 20 games since 1992, when the Auggies started 13-7 en route to a 24-12 overall finish.

Hinz went 2-for-3 with two doubles, three runs scored and an RBI in the first game, and went 3-for-4 with two doubles, three runs scored and an RBI in the second game.

Meanwhile, Dorale had four stolen bases in the first game -- one off the school record of five by Tully Kaiser in a 2000 contest -- and two stolen bases in the second game, scoring four runs on a 3-for-6 effort. Dorale now has 18 stolen bases in 20 attempts, already the fourth-most stolen bases in a single season in school history. The record is 37 by Kaiser in 2000, part of her school-record 108 stolen-base career.

Amanda Cagan (SR, Saratoga, Calif./Monta Vista HS) had a two-run home run and a double in the second game for Macalester (4-12 overall, 0-2 MIAC). Lauren Ballweske (SR, Racine, Wis./Horlick HS) also had a double for the Scots in the second game, and Cagan, Chloe Souza (SO, Los Angeles, Calif./Windward HS), Alison Phillips (SR, Vernon Hills, Ill./Adlai E. Stevenson HS) and Olivia Abbott (SR, Lakewood, Colo./Green Mountain HS) had two hits each in the doubleheader for the Scots.

Augsburg jumped on the scoreboard early in the first game, scoring four runs in the first inning, sending nine batters to the plate, including two bases-loaded walks. Another run came across on an error in the second inning, and after the Scots scored twice in the second inning, Hinz hit a ground-rule double in the fourth inning and came home on a single by Brittney Bruzek (JR, Alexandria, Minn.Jefferson HS) to give the Auggies a 6-2 lead.

In the fifth inning, pitcher Melissa Larsen (SR, Andover, Minn.) hit her second collegiate home run, a two-run shot to center field, and the Auggies claimed the early win with back-to-back RBI doubles by Hinz and Bruzek.

Larsen struck out two while not walking a batter and allowing just five hits to score the win in the pitching circle for the Auggies.

In the second game, Macalester's Cagan opened the game with a two-run homer in the first inning, but the Auggies took advantage of six Macalester errors to score six unearned runs in the game off of two Scot pitchers.

After scoring twice in the bottom of the first, Augsburg scored three runs in both the third and fourth innings, including a two-run homer by Stephanie Saxe (SO, Stacy, Minn./North Branch HS) -- her first collegiate home run -- in the third frame. Augsburg added a run in the fifth inning and two more in the sixth to end the game early.

Kylee Persing (SO, Mound, Minn./Mound-Westonka HS) struck out six while walking three to pick up the pitching victory for the Auggies, allowing eight hits.

Augsburg is idle until its next MIAC doubleheader, next Tuesday (4/6) at 4 p.m. at St. Catherine. Macalester is in action this Friday and Saturday (4/2-3) with nonconference games in Grinnell, Iowa.