MINNEAPOLIS – Behind a combined six-inning no-hitter by Brynn Hostettler (SO, Northfield, Minn./Northfield HS) and Libby Moore (SO, Springville, Iowa/Springville HS) in the first game, and a 12-run outburst at the plate in the second game, the Augsburg University softball team improved to its best start to a season since 1984, sweeping Northland College in a nonconference doubleheader on Wednesday afternoon.

THE BASICS
SCORES: Augsburg 9, Northland (Wis.) 1 (6 inn.); Augsburg 12, Northland (Wis.) 2 (5 inn.)
LOCATION: Edor Nelson Field, Minneapolis
RECORD: Augsburg 12-4 overall, Northland 2-7 overall

GAME 1 HIGHLIGHTS
• Hostettler struck out 11, while walking seven, in five innings of work to improve to 4-0 on the year, and Moore picked up her third save of the season with an inning of relief, facing four batters. Neither pitcher allowed a hit, and both runs charged to the Auggies were unearned. It's Hostettler's fourth career pitching performance, and second this season, with double-digit strikeouts.
• Leading 4-1 going into the bottom of the sixth inning, Augsburg sent nine batters to the plate and scored five runs on five hits, ending the game early via the NCAA eight-run rule. Jayden Evenson (FY, Mosinee, Wis./Mosinee HS) hit an RBI double, Olivia Hennager (FY, Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Simley HS) and Hostettler hit RBI singles, another run came across on a throwing error, and Jaime Olson (FY, Minneapolis, Minn./South HS) hit a two-run single.
• Augsburg scored a run in the first inning, as Hennager hit a two-out double and scored on a single by Zoie Johnson (SO, Carlton, Minn./Esko HS).
• Three runs came across for the Auggies in the second inning. Olivia Dynneson (JR, Minneapolis, Minn./South HS) led off the inning with a double, and after a Kayla Hanson (SR, St. James, Minn./St. James HS) walk, Katie Manecke (JR, Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View HS) hit a run-scoring single to plate Dynneson, and Torrie Rehder (SO, Goodhue, Minn./Goodhue HS) hit a double to bring home Hanson and Manecke.
• Hennager went 3-for-4 at the plate in the first game, while Evenson, Johnson and Manecke had two hits each. 

GAME 2 HIGHLIGHTS
• Olivia O'Connor (JR, White Bear Lake, Minn./White Bear Lake HS) pitched a complete-game victory for the Auggies, improving to 5-1 on the season with a three-strikeout effort over five innings, against two walks and six hits.
• Augsburg scored multiple runs in each inning to end the contest early in the fifth inning. Sixteen Auggies saw action in the game, with 10 Auggies contributing to the 13-hit effort.
• Eight straight batters reached base in the first inning, with RBI singles by Johnson, Olson and Hanson, along with a run scored on a throwing error, giving the Auggies a 4-0 lead.
• Rehder and Dynneson hit RBI doubles in the second inning, with another run coming across on an RBI groundout by Evenson.
• Rehder hit a two-run double in the third inning, and came home to score from second base on a bunt by Evenson.
• A bases-loaded walk and an RBI groundout by Rehder plated runs for the Auggies in the fourth inning.
• Rehder went 3-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored and four RBI for the Auggies in the second game. Manecke had two hits, and she and Johnson scored two runs each.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
• Augsburg's 12-4 start to the season is its best start after 16 games since 1984, when the Auggies also started 12-4, en route to a 25-7 record and a berth in the NCAA Division III national tournament.
• Augsburg has now outscored its opponents by a 80-58 margin in its first 16 games, and has 136 base hits to its opponents' 100.

FOR THE FOES
• Ariana Wilson struck out two against four walks in the first game for Northland.
• McKenna Freersken had two hits in the second game for the Lumberjills.

UP NEXT
• Augsburg hosts North Central (Minn.) in a nonconference in a doubleheader next Thursday (3/30) at 4 p.m. at the Edor Nelson Field dome.