MINNEAPOLIS – The Augsburg University softball team opened Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a pair of losses in a doubleheader against St. Catherine University on Sunday afternoon, falling 2-0 and 5-4.

THE BASICS
SCORES: St. Catherine 2, Augsburg 0; St. Catherine 5, Augsburg 4
LOCATION: Edor Nelson Field, Minneapolis
RECORD: Augsburg 14-6 overall (0-2 MIAC), St. Catherine 8-10 overall (2-0 MIAC)

GAME 1 HIGHLIGHTS
• The first game was a pitchers' duel between Augsburg's Brynn Hostettler (SO, Northfield, Minn./Northfield HS) and St. Catherine's Erica Pronschinske. Hostettler struck out nine while allowing three hits and 12 walks in a complete-game effort, while Pronschinske had three strikeouts against two walks and four hits.
• St. Catherine scored both of its runs in the top of the first inning.
• Augsburg stranded four of its six runners on-base, while grounding into a pair of double plays, including one that ended the game in the bottom of the seventh inning.
• Olivia Dynneson (JR, Minneapolis, Minn./South HS) had two hits for the Auggies, while Torrie Rehder (SO, Goodhue, Minn./Goodhue HS) hit a triple in the third inning.

GAME 2 HIGHLIGHTS
• St. Catherine scored two runs in the top of the first inning, but the Auggies scored three runs in the bottom of the frame, and added another run in the second inning to take a 4-2 lead. But the Wildcats scored single runs in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings to rally for the victory.
• Dynneson hit a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the first, and Jaime Olson (FY, Minneapolis, Minn./South HS) followed with a two-run single to right field.
• The Auggies scored a run in the bottom of the second, again with two outs. On an Olivia Hennager (FY, Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Simley HS) single, Grace Syson (JR, Oshkosh, Wis./Lourdes Academy HS) was awarded home on an obstruction call against the Wildcats.
• Olivia O'Connor (JR, White Bear Lake, Minn./White Bear Lake HS) pitched a complete game for Augsburg, striking out two against no walks.

FOR THE FOES
• Riley Leonhardt struck out two against five walks in the second game for St. Catherine.
• Helen McKinnon had two hits in the first game, and Kaitlin Boyles had two hits, including an RBI double, in the second game.

UP NEXT
• Augsburg hosts Macalester in a MIAC doubleheader on Wednesday (4/5) at 3:30 p.m. at the Edor Nelson Field dome.