MINNEAPOLIS -- The Augsburg College softball team used two very different approaches to claim a nonconference doubleheader sweep of the University of Northwestern-St. Paul on Thursday afternoon at Edor Nelson Field, winning 9-1 in five innings and 5-4 in nine innings.

THE BASICS
GAME SCORES: Augsburg 9, Northwestern-St. Paul 1 (5 inn.); Augsburg 5, Northwestern-St. Paul 1 (9 inn.)
LOCATION: Edor Nelson Field, Minneapolis
RECORDS: Augsburg 11-7 overall, Northwestern 5-15 overall

DOUBLEHEADER HIGHLIGHTS
• Augsburg pounded out 13 hits in scoring the win in the first game, ended after five innings via the NCAA eight-run rule. The Auggies had to rally from an early 2-0 deficit and went to extra innings in the second game, taking advantage of an error and two sacrifice bunts, scoring the game-winning run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth.
• Brianna Cline (SO, St. Clair, Minn.) continued her solid hitting week, going 4-for-7 in the doubleheader with a double, two RBI and three runs scored. In four games so far this week, Cline is hitting 11-of-15 (.733) with four doubles, two triples, 11 RBI and seven runs scored.
• Samantha Anderson (FY, Coon Rapids, Minn.) pitched in both games, striking out eight while walking one and allowing just three hits in 6.2 innings. She struck out one while allowing one hit in two innings in the first game, and struck out seven while walking one and allowing two hits in 4.2 innings of relief to earn the win in the second game.

GAME 1 HIGHLIGHTS
• Augsburg scored four runs in each of the first two innings to build a big lead, adding another run in the third.
• Run-scoring singles by Cline and Sarah Buckner (SR, Duluth, Minn./East HS), along with a two-run double by Haley Larson (SO, Shakopee, Minn./Prior Lake HS), gave the Auggies a 4-0 lead in the first inning.
• Jenna Orth (SR, Melrose, Minn.) and Cline hit back-to-back RBI doubles in the second inning, followed by a run-scoring groundout by Buckner and an RBI single by Taylor Mattice (SO, Woodbury, Minn./Centennial HS).
• After Northwestern scored a run in the top of the third inning, the Auggies regained the eight-run advantage in the bottom of the frame, as Anderson hit a run-scoring single, plating Orth.
• Larson went 3-for-3 with two RBI for the Auggies, as did Cline. Orth and Cline scored two runs each. Eight of the Auggie batters in the game had base hits.
• Alyssa Kaiswatum (SR, Regina, Saskatchewan/Thom Collegiate HS) earned her first pitching victory as an Auggie, allowing just two hits in three innings of work before being relieved by Anderson.

GAME 2 HIGHLIGHTS
• Augsburg used a four-run fourth inning to overcome an early 2-0 deficit. Orth scored on a sacrifice fly by Meghan Springborn (SO, Oakdale, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran HS), Mattice hit a two-run double and Amanda Niznik (JR, Columbia Heights, Minn.) hit a run-scoring single.
• The Eagles tied the game at 4-4 in the top of the fifth inning, and the game remained tied until the bottom of the ninth. Larson led off the inning with a walk, Mattice gained first base on a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt, Niznik hit a sacrifice bunt to move the two baserunners up, and Larson scored on a wild pitch to end the game.
• Starting pitcher Courtney Larsen (SO, Little Canada, Minn./Concordia Academy HS) struck out one while walking two in 4.1 innings of work for the Auggies.
• Orth went 2-for-3 with a run scored to lead the Auggies in the second game.

FOR THE FOES
• Northwestern was limited to three hits in the first game, but two were doubles, an RBI double by Jennifer Ankrom in the third inning and a double by Megan Threlkeld in the fifth.
• A two-run single by Colleen Feldheim and a two-run homer by Ankrom in the fifth inning accounted for Northwestern's second-game runs. Ankrom and Ann Lokke scored two runs each for the Eagles.
• Lauren Silbernick had two strikeouts against one walk in the first-game pitching performance for Northwestern, while Meghan Schroeder struck out one while walking two in 8.1 innings in the second game.

UP NEXT
• Augsburg opens Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Saturday (4/2) at 12 p.m., hosting Macalester at Edor Nelson Field.
• Northwestern hosts Wisconsin-Stout in a nonconference doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m.