BOXSCORE 1 | BOXSCORE 2 GAME 1 BOXSCORE | GAME 2 BOXSCORE

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- The Augsburg College softball team opened its 2012 season with a doubleheader sweep of Wartburg College (Iowa) on Saturday evening at the Rochester Regional Stadium dome. Augsburg claimed a 12-11 victory in the first game, rallying from an 11-3 deficit to score the win. The Auggies completed the sweep with a 4-2 win in the second game. It was the first games of the season for both teams.

Kylee Persing (SR, Mound, Minn./Mound-Westonka HS) led the way for the Auggies, going 5-for-8 at the plate with two home runs, a double, six runs scored and four RBIs in the doubleheader. Allyson Ruedy (JR, Waseca, Minn.) and Kelsey Rorabeck (JR, Hudson, Wis./Somerset HS) also hit home runs for the Auggies. Ruedy went 5-for-8 at the plate with five runs scored and four RBI, and leadoff hitter Bri Dorale (JR, Ramsey, Minn./Anoka HS) went 6-for-9 at the plate with three runs scored an an RBI.

Trailing 11-3 in the third inning of the first game, Augsburg rallied with nine straight runs to pick up the victory. Two runs came across following an error in the third inning, an RBI single by Ruedy and a two-run homer by Persing gave the Auggies three runs in the fourth, and another RBI single by Ruedy and another two-run homer by Persing tied the game at 11-11 in the sixth.

In the bottom of the seventh, pinch hitter Lindsay Helbach (FY, Amherst, Wis.) singled, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Bekka Kelly (FY, Columbia Heights, Minn.), then scored on a two-out, RBI single by Dorale to give the Auggies the win.

Pitcher Devon Shaut (SO, Merritt Island, Fla.), pitched four innings of scoreless relief, striking out one and allowing just five hits, to pick up the first game win for Augsburg in relief of starter Persing.

Ruedy went 4-for-4 with three RBI and four runs scored in the first game, while Dorale and Persing had three hits each. Stephanie Saxe (SR, Stacy, Minn./North Branch HS) had two hits. Rorabeck hit a two-run homer for the Auggies in the first inning.

In the second game, Persing picked up her first pitching win of the season, striking out nine while walking give and allowing eight hits in the complete-game effort. Wartburg stranded 12 baserunners in the second game.

A solo homer by Ruedy and a sacrifice fly by Helbach gave the Auggies a 2-0 lead in the first inning, and after Wartburg tied the game with two runs in the second inning, the Auggies took the lead for good in the third, as Saxe hit a sacrifice fly to drive home Persing from third. Another run came across in the fifth on an RBI double by Saxe.

Dorale went 3-for-4 at the plate in the second game, while Persing had two hits and scored three runs.

Augsburg hosts its annual Auggie Dome Tournament next weekend (3/2-3) at Edor Nelson Field. Augsburg will face Wisconsin-La Crosse next Friday (3/2) at 6:30 p.m., and hosts Luther (Iowa) next Saturday (3/3) at 4:30 p.m.