Box Score 1 | Box Score 2  ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Coach Kris Kistler's 17th-ranked Augustana softball team suffered a pair of 3-2 setbacks to ranked foes Sunday at Washington University's Mizuno Classic. The Vikings, now 11-5, fell to 12th-ranked Coe in eight innings and to the host Bears, currently ranked 19th in the nation. Kistler's club will host St. Ambrose in a doubleheader on Wednesday, March 26 at Carver Field in its 2014 home opener.
 
COE 3, AUGUSTANA 2 (8)
 
A sacrifice and a passed ball in the bottom of the eighth allowed the winning run to score in the Vikings' first game of the day as 12th-ranked Coe pulled out a 3-2 win. Senior right-hander Sarah Hintz (Le Roy HS, Le Roy, Ill.) went the distance and was the tough-luck loser, suffering her first setback after eight straight wins to open the season.
 
Kohawk catcher Abby Flannagan opened the deciding frame at second base and was run for by Jacqueline Naeve. Naeve moved to third on a sacrifice by pinch-hitter Mallory McArtor and came home with the game-winner on a passed ball.
 
Each team plated a run in the first. Augustana jumped on top when junior second baseman Jenna Teson (Jacobs HS, Algonquin, Ill.) doubled to center and scored on a single to left center by sophomore Ashley Anderson (Sherrard HS, Viola, Ill.). Coe answered in the bottom half, getting a leadoff double from Nicole Gentile, who eventually scored on Danielle Schlotterbeck's fielder's choice grounder.
 
Hintz and Kohawk pitcher Arran Weeces settled in and put up goose eggs until the fifth inning, when Christie Wiersema (Morrison HS, Morrison, Ill.) touched Weeces for a two-out solo home run to left center to give the Vikings a 2-1 lead.
 
That lasted until the bottom of the sixth, when Coe put together a two-out rally to tie it. Maliah Fligg started things with a two-out single to center. Erin Lang ran for her and came around to score the equalizer when Haley Smith doubled down the left field line.
 
Hintz allowed six hits and three walks while fanning four in 7 1/3 innings. Madison Woodruff, who relieved Weeces to start the sixth, went three scoreless innings for the win. Junior left fielder Laura Behnke (St. Francis HS, Roselle, Ill.) and Teson each had two of Augustana's seven hits.
 
WASHINGTON 3, AUGUSTANA 2
 
The 19th-ranked Bears scored three in the bottom of the fifth to erase a 2-0 Augustana lead and went on to pick up the victory. Sydney Caldwell started the frame with a homer to center off Viking starter Anderson. A pair of singles followed, but after a fielder's choice and a pop out, it looked like Augustana might escape with the lead intact. However, Hannah Mehrle came through with a big two-out, two-run single to left to give the hosts the lead.
 
Junior Chelsea Lavin (Downers Grove South HS, Downers Grove, Ill.) had a one-out single in the sixth and freshman Amanda Ebert (Geneva HS, Geneva, Ill.) led off the seventh with a single, but that was as close to a rally as the Vikings could muster against Kelsey Neal, who went the distance for the win.
 
Anderson helped herself to a lead, starting off a two-run fourth inning with a single to center. Senior Jaime Rehmert (Sterling HS, Sterling, Ill.) moved her to third with a double to right and Lavin got Augustana on the board, scoring Anderson with a single to center. Rehmert made it 2-0 when she scored on Wiersema's fielder's choice grounder.
 
Anderson went 4 2/3 innings and took the loss, falling to 3-4 this season. She and Lavin each went 2-for-3 at the plate.