MINNEAPOLIS -- Pounding out 17 hits in the two games, the Augsburg University softball team claimed a split of a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader with Macalester College on Saturday, falling 4-0 in the opener but winning the second game 8-5.

THE BASICS
SCORES: Macalester 4, Augsburg 0; Augsburg 8, Macalester 5
LOCATION: Edor Nelson Field, Minneapolis
RECORD: Augsburg 13-13 overall (4-4 MIAC), Macalester 13-13 overall (5-3 MIAC)

GAME 1 HIGHLIGHTS
• A four-run fifth inning, where Macalester sent seven batters to the plate, proved to be the difference in the first game. Augsburg had seven hits, including doubles by Mackenzie Evenson (JR, St. Louis Park, Minn./St. Louis Park HS) and Hollywood Hermanson (JR, Dover, Minn./Dover-Eyota HS), along with two walks, but stranded nine runners on base in the game.
• Pitcher Sam Anderson (SR, Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids HS) struck out six while walking three and allowing six hits in a complete-game effort for the Auggies.
• Anesia King (JR, Isanti, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti HS) went 2-for-3 at the plate, while Anderson went 2-for-4.

GAME 2 HIGHLIGHTS
• Augsburg scored three runs in the first inning, as King singled and eventually came around to score on an Anderson groundout, Nell Gehrke (JR, Northfield, Minn./Northfield HS) reached base on an error and scored on an RBI single by Jacquline Nichols (SR, Royalton, Minn./Royalton HS), and Nichols scored on a groundout by Shannon Dale (JR, Watertown, Minn./Watertown-Mayer HS).
• King hit a solo home run in the second inning, and drove in Hermanson on a single in the third inning, as Augsburg took a 5-3 advantage.
• The Auggies gained insurance runs in the sixth, as King singled, Anderson walked and both scored on a mammoth three-run homer by Nichols, her third home run of the season.
• Anderson gained the pitching win with four innings of relief, striking out two while walking three and allowing just one hit. Starter Elly Strunk (SO, Blooming Prairie, Minn./Blooming Prairie HS) had two strikeouts against two walks and four hits allowed.
• King went 4-for-4 with three runs scored and a pair of RBI for the Auggies in the second game, while Nichols went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and four RBI.

FOR THE FOES
• Julia Carpenter went 3-for-3 with a run scored in the first game for Macalester, while Kennedy Kechely hit a two-run double and scored a run.
• Sophie Migacz pitched a complete-game shutout win for the Scots in the first game, striking out five while walking two. She also pitched five innings of relief with three strikeouts against three walks in the second game.
• Kaela Jackson and Claire O'Connor each had doubles for Macalester in the second game.

UP NEXT
• Augsburg faces St. Olaf in a MIAC doubleheader on Sunday (4/7) at 9:30 a.m. at Edor Nelson Field. The games were moved from Northfield to Minneapolis due to the threat of rain, and St. Olaf will be the home team in both games.
• Macalester hosts Saint Mary's in a MIAC doubleheader on Sunday at 1 p.m.