Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 ST. LOUIS, Missouri – Augustana, ranked 17th in the latest NCAA Division III national softball poll, split a pair of games against nationally ranked opponents on Saturday, March 22 at the Mizuno Classic at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. The Vikings of head coach Kris Kistler defeated 19th ranked Washington 2-1 in the first game but fell to 12th ranked Coe 5-3 in the nightcap.
 
Augustana, now 11-3, will play the same two teams on Sunday, March 23. The Vikings will face Coe at 12:00 noon and Washington at 2:00 p.m.
 
AUGUSTANA 2, WASHINGTON 1
 
Seniors Krista Watson (Coal City HS, Coal City, Ill.) and Sarah Hintz (LeRoy HS, LeRoy, Ill.) led the way as 17th ranked Augustana defeated 19th ranked Washington 2-1 in St. Louis, Missouri in the first game of the Mizuno Softball Invitational on Saturday, March 22. Watson connected on what proved to be a game-winning home run and Hintz tossed a seven-inning complete game as the Vikings moved to 11-2 on the year while Washington fell to 12-4.
 
Hintz spun a two-hitter, giving up just one unearned run in the bottom of the seventh while striking out one and walking two. She outdueled Bear starter Annie Pitkin, who only gave up four hits and struck out seven. Hintz moved her record to 8-0 this season with the win.
 
With one out in the top of the fourth, junior Laura Behnke (Wheaton St. Francis HS, Roselle, Ill.) tripled and Watson followed with a home run, her second of the year. It was Behnke's seventh triple of the season. That was all the scoring for the Vikings and it held up as Hintz was nearly flawless. She gave up an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh when Augustana committed its only error of the game. That came with two outs but Hintz retired the next batter to end the game.
 
COE 5, AUGUSTANA 3
 
After spotting the 12th ranked Kohawks (now 11-1 on the year), a 3-0 lead after three innings, Augustana rallied to tie the game with three runs in the top of the fourth before eventually falling 5-3. Coe scored a single run in the bottom of the first and added two in the third but the Vikings woke up in the fourth.
 
Coe starter Maddison Woodruff faced the minimum of nine batters through three innings but junior Laura Behnke (Wheaton St. Francis HS, Roselle, Ill.) opened the fourth with a walk. Junior Jenna Teson (Jacobs HS, Algonquin, Ill.) singled Behnke to second. After an out, sophomore Ashley Anderson (Sherrard HS, Viola, Ill.) doubled to plate Behnke with Teson going to third. Senior Jaime Rehmert (Sterling HS, Sterling, Ill.) drew a walk to load the bases and then junior Christina Pagan (Normal West HS, Normal, Ill.) doubled in two runs to knot the game at 3-3.
 
It stayed that way until the sixth when Coe put two runs on the board off Anderson with the help of two hits and one costly Augustana error.
 
Anderson took the loss for the Vikings as she went six innings and gave up seven hits. Of the five runs scored against her, only two were earned. She had one strikeout and one walk.
 
Pagan was the offensive hero with two hits in three at-bats with a pair of runs-batted-in.