MINNEAPOLIS -- Limited to just five hits in the doubleheader, the Augsburg University softball team dropped a pair of games to Gustavus Adolphus College to open the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference campaign on Saturday afternoon at Edor Nelson Field.

THE BASICS
SCORES: Gustavus 4, Augsburg 1; Gustavus 8, Augsburg 0 (5 inn.)
LOCATION: Edor Nelson Field, Minneapolis
RECORD: Augsburg 8-9 overall (0-2 MIAC), Gustavus 7-9 overall (2-0 MIAC)

GAME 1 HIGHLIGHTS
• Trailing 1-0 entering the bottom of the fifth inning, Augsburg tied the game at 1-1, as Kayla Hanson (SR, St. James, Minn./St. James HS) reached base with a walk, and came around to score on a two-out, RBI double by Katie Manecke (SO, Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View HS). But Gustavus gained the lead back with two runs in the sixth and an insurance run in the seventh.
• Augsburg was limited to three hits in the first game -- a single by Sabriya Passmore (JR, Apple Valley, Minn./Apple Valley HS) in the first inning, a triple by Meredith Taylor (FY, Randolph, Minn./Randolph HS) in the fourth inning, and Manecke's RBI double in the fifth.
• Olivia O'Connor (SO, White Bear Lake, Minn./White Bear Lake HS) pitched a complete-game effort for the Auggies.
 
GAME 2 HIGHLIGHTS
• Augsburg was limited to two hits in the second game, both in the second inning -- a single by Torrie Rehder (FY, Goodhue, Minn./Goodhue HS) and a single by O'Connor. 
• Gustavus scored five runs in the third inning on three hits and a pair of Augsburg errors, then scored three runs in the fifth inning on four hits and two Auggie errors, ending the game early via the NCAA eight-run rule.
• Libby Moore (FY, Springville, Iowa/Springville HS), making her second collegiate start, had one strikeout in four innings of work, with Saryn Sherrell (JR, Minneapolis, Minn./South HS) striking out one in an inning of relief.

FOR THE FOES
• Piper Otto had 13 strikeouts against four walks and three hits in the first-game victory for Gustavus. 
• Madelyn Mueller had four hits in the doubleheader, going 3-for-3 and driving in two runs in the first game, and going 1-for3 with two runs scored in the second game.

UP NEXT
• Augsburg travels to face St. Catherine in an MIAC doubleheader on Sunday (4/3) at 11 a.m. The start time has been moved up due to the prospects of inclement weather later in the day.