BOXSCORE 1 |
BOXSCORE 2 GAME 1 BOXSCORE | GAME 2 BOXSCORE
MINNEAPOLIS -- Pounding out 21 hits, including five extra-base hits, the Augsburg College softball team clinched a berth in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference postseason playoffs with a doubleheader sweep of St. Catherine University on Sunday at Edor Nelson Field.
Augsburg (20-20 overall, 13-9 MIAC) claimed an 8-4 win over St. Catherine (14-22 overall, 7-15 MIAC) in the first game, then scored a 9-1 victory in the second game, ended after five innings due to the NCAA's eight-run rule. It marks the fourth time in the last five seasons that Augsburg has won 20-plus overall games and the fourth time in the last five seasons that Augsburg has won 10-plus MIAC games under sixth-year head coach
Tim Gormley.
Augsburg closed the regular season by claiming a berth the
four-team MIAC postseason playoffs for the first time since 2008 and the second time since the MIAC established the softball playoffs in 2004. The playoffs will be held on Friday and Saturday (5/4-5) at the Rice Creek Fields in Shoreview, Minn., with the winner earning the MIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III national playoffs.
Augsburg will likely be the No. 3 seed in the playoffs, with the only scenario pushing the Auggies to the No. 4 seed being a sweep by St. Mary's over Gustavus in Winona, Minn., on Tuesday (5/1), according to the MIAC office. Should the Auggies finish in third place, it would be Augsburg's best conference regular-season finish since a third-place finish in 1992 (24-12 overall, 16-4 MIAC).
St. Thomas (32-6 overall, 19-1 MIAC) and Gustavus (26-8 overall, 18-2 MIAC) have also claimed MIAC playoff bids, leaving one spot remaining in the postseason field.
Six Auggies had two or more hits in Sunday's doubleheader, led by leadoff hitter
Bri Dorale (JR, Ramsey, Minn./Anoka HS), who went 5-for-7 in the twinbill with two triples, three RBI and four runs scored.
Allyson Ruedy (JR, Waseca, Minn.) went 4-for-7 at the plate with three runs scored and three RBI,
Sammie Wagner (SR, Stillwater, Minn.) went 3-for-6 with a double and four RBI,
Kylee Persing (SR, Mound, Minn./Mound-Westonka HS) went 3-for-6 with two runs scored, a double and an RBI, and
Mary Hildestad (JR, White Bear Lake, Minn.) went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.
Bekka Kelly (FY, Columbia Heights, Minn.) went 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored, while
Kelsey Rorabeck (JR, Hudson, Wis./Somerset HS) had a double and scored two runs.
Pitcher
Amanda Eaton (SO, White Bear Lake, Minn.) picked up both victories for the Auggies on Sunday, striking out seven while alllowing six hits and not walking a batter in her 10th complete-game effort of the season in the first game, and pitching the first three innings of the second game, striking out one while walking two and not allowing a hit or run. Persing pitched the final two innings of the second game with two strikeouts, allowing two hits and an unearned run.
St. Catherine was led by Jenna Brady (SO, Greenfield, Minn.), who had two hits and scored a run. Shae Elliott (JR, Richfield, Minn.) hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning of the first game, and Raven Baker (SO, Minneapolis, Minn.) drove in a run on a double in the third inning of the first game. Arianna Kooyman (FY, Cottage Grove, Minn.) scored the lone run for the Wildcats in the second game, coming across following a fielding error in the fifth inning.
In the first game, the Auggies jumped on the board with two runs in the second inning, as Ruedy came across on a throwing error following a Hildestad bunt attempt. Wagner, in just her fourth start of the season, got her first hit of the year with a single to plate Hildestad. The Auggies scored four runs in the fifth inning, sending eight batters to the plate. Rorabeck doubled and scored on a wild pitch, Ruedy singled to drive in Dorale, and Wagner hit a two-run double, plating Hildestad and Ruedy.
After the Wildcats cut the lead to 6-4 on Elliott's three-run homer, the Auggies scored two more runs in the bottom of the sixth. Dorale tripled to right field to plate
Stephanie Saxe (SR, Stacy, Minn./North Branch HS), and Dorale scored after Kelly reached base on a bunt attempt and throwing error.
In the second game, Augsburg scored nine runs in the first four innings to end the game early. Three runs came across in the first inning, as Persing and Wagner hit RBI singles and Hildestad plated a run on a groundout attempt which resulted in a fielding error. In the second, two unearned runs came across, as Dorale scored on a fielding error on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Kelly, and Ruedy singled to drive Kelly home.
Dorale drove in two runs on a triple to right-center in the third inning, and two more runs came in during the fourth inning, as Persing doubled and scored on a single by Ruedy, and Ruedy scored on a wild pitch and throwing error.
