MINNEAPOLIS -- Behind strong pitching performances from Olivia O'Connor (SR, White Bear Lake, Minn./White Bear Lake HS) and Morgann Paaske (JR, Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake Central HS), the Augsburg University softball team opened its 2024 campaign with a doubleheader sweep of Northland College on Tuesday, gaining head coach Melissa Lee her 100th and 101st career victories.

THE BASICS
SCORES: Augsburg 3, Northland (Wis.) 1; Augsburg 4, Northland (Wis.) 0
LOCATION: Edor Nelson Field, Minneapolis
RECORD: Augsburg 2-0 overall, Northland 0-5 overall

GAME 1 HIGHLIGHTS
• O'Connor had an impressive outing in the pitching circle for Augsburg's season debut, striking out nine against one walk and five hits, allowing an unearned run. O'Connor threw 122 pitches in her complete-game effort, with 81 strikes.
• Teron Ormond-Miller (FY, Rosemount, Minn./Rosemount HS) scored the first run of the game for the Auggies, reaching base on a single and eventually coming around to score on a fielder's choice by Zoie Johnson (JR, Carlton, Minn./Esko HS). 
• The Lumberjills tied the game in the third inning, but Lola Pilon (FY, St. Paul, Minn./Mounds Park Academy HS) untied it in her second collegiate at-bat, leading off the fourth inning with a solo home run to right. 
• Johnson claimed her second RBI of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning, plating pinch-runner Katie Manecke (SR, Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View HS) on a double to center.

GAME 2 HIGHLIGHTS
• Paaske, a transfer from NAIA program Trinity International (Ill.), was efficient in her Augsburg debut in the pitching circle, striking out eight against a pair of walks and three hits for her second collegiate shutout. Of her 103 pitches in the game, 68 were strikes.
• Augsburg scored a pair of runs in both the third and sixth innings. In the third, Manecke hit a one-out infield single, stole second, and came around to score after Torrie Rehder (JR, Goodhue, Minn./Goodhue HS) reached base on a a fielding error. Rehder then scored on a single by Olivia Funk (JR, Lewiston, Minn./Lewiston-Altura HS). 
• Paaske helped her own cause in the bottom of the sixth, hitting a double with a throwing error that plated pinch runner Ormond-Miller. Paaske later scored on an RBI groundout by Manecke.
• Funk and Paske had two hits each for the Auggies in the second game.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
• Augsburg claimed a pair of ground-ball double plays in the doubleheader -- 4-6-3 in the first game and 6-4-3 in the second game, between shorstop Rehder, second basemen Jayden Evenson (SO, Mosinee, Wis./Mosinee HS) and Megan Gissler (FY, Louisville, Neb./Louisville HS), and first baseman Pilon.
• The win in the first game was the 100th for Lee, now in her eighth year as Augsburg's head coach. She is now 101-138 in her collegiate coaching career.

FOR THE FOES
• Elizabeth Peters had two hits, including a double, in the first game for Northland. She also had a base hit in the second game.

UP NEXT
• Augsburg hosts the Auggie Dome Games this weekend at Edor Nelson Field, hosting Crown College in a doubleheader on Friday (3/1) at 5:30 p.m., and Martin Luther College in a doubleheader on Saturday (3/2) at 12:30 p.m.