Weather has altered the schedule for the annual Augustana Invitational softball tournament but a class project from an Augustana player will hopefully bring some cheer to residents of the Quad Cities in need. Originally set for the Green Valley Sports Complex in Moline, Illinois, the late-arriving spring has forced a revision of the original schedule.
Instead of having all games played at Green Valley, the tournament will be split between the Augustana diamond behind the Carver Center and the Coe College facility in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The revised schedule is at the bottom of this release.
A new twist to the tournament is the brainchild of Viking junior leftfielder
Chelsea Lavin (Downers Grove South HS, Downers Grove, Ill.). It will be a food drive benefitting the River Bend Food Bank in the Quad Cities. Lavin is currently enrolled in a social action research class at Augustana and one of the main projects for the course is to conduct a food drive for the River Bend Food Bank.
The goal of the food drive is to gather as much food or monetary donations as a possible for the local food bank. According to Lavin, $1.00 is equivalent to $10.00 worth of food. There will be donation stations set up at the Augustana location of the tournament throughout the weekend.
"Hunger is an issue that most people tend to overlook, but throughout the country 50 million United States citizens are going hungry ever day and 17 million of them are children," said Lavin. "That is a frightening statistic. There will be no pressure to donate but we would like to be able to gather as much food as possible."
Augustana, currently 11-5 on the season and ranked 21
st in the latest NCAA Division III national poll. The Vikings will play Wisconsin-Stout at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 29 and turn right around and face Blackburn at 12:00 noon. On Sunday, Augustana will play Wartburg at 10:00 a.m. and Ripon at 4:00 p.m.
REVISED SCHEDULE FOR AUGUSTANA INVITATIONALÂ
| TIME | GAME | TIME | GAME |
| Saturday, March 29 | | | |
| Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Coe) | | Rock Island, Illinois (Augustana) | |
| 1:00 p.m. | Coe vs. Ripon | 10:00 a.m. | Augustana vs. UW-Stout |
| 3:00 p.m. | Ripon vs. Coe | 12:00 noon | Blackburn vs. Augustana |
| | 2:00 p.m. | UW-Stout vs. Wartburg |
| | 4:00 p.m. | Wartburg vs. Blackburn |
| Sunday, March 30 | | | |
| Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Coe) | | Rock Island, Illinois (Augustana) | |
| 12:00 noon | Coe vs. UW-Stout | 10:00 a.m. | Augustana vs. Wartburg |
| 2:00 p.m. | UW-Stout vs. Coe | 12:00 noon | Wartburg vs. Blackburn |
| | 2:00 p.m. | Blackburn vs. Ripon |
| | 4:00 p.m. | Ripon vs. Augustana |
