Box Score 1 | Box Score 2  ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – In a battle of top-20 teams, Augustana came up with a big doubleheader sweep of North Central Saturday at Carver Field. The 20th-ranked Vikings won the opener 4-2 and hung on for a 4-3 win over the 17th-ranked Cardinals in the night cap. Both clubs are now 29-9 on the year, but Coach Kris Kistler's squad, at 10-4, moves one game ahead of 9-5 North Central in the CCIW standings.
 
AUGUSTANA 4, NORTH CENTRAL 2
 
The Cardinals threatened in the top of the first of the opener against Augustana starter Sarah Hintz (Le Roy HS, Le Roy, Ill.). Cecie Portillo led off with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice and to third on Kiersten Tinkoff's base hit. Amanda Walker followed with a fly to right which sophomore Jennifer Gray (Lincoln-Way East HS, Mokena, Ill.) corralled and then gunned down Portillo at the plate to end the inning.
 
Gray came up big in the bottom of the frame as well, driving in the first two runs with a two-out, bases-loaded single to left. Junior Laura Behnke (St. Francis HS, Roselle, Ill.) had led off with a walk and came around  to score on Gray's hit, along with junior Jenna Teson (Jacobs HS, Algonquin, Ill.), who had reached on a single to left.
 
The hosts added two more in the third. Senior Krista Watson (Coal City HS, Coal City, Ill.) drew a leadoff walk from North Central's Vlasta Mangia and moved to third when Mangia misplayed Jaime Rehmert's (Sterling HS, Sterling, Ill.) sacrifice bunt. One out later, Gray reached on an error, with Watson scoring. Rehmert made it 4-0 when she scored on Hintz's bases-loaded ground out to second.
 
Walker touched Hintz for a home run to lead off the fourth and North Central added a run in the seventh on a Mangia double and an RBI single by Jordan Johnson, but that was all the Cardinals would manage against the Viking ace, as she closed things out to earn her 14th win in 17 decisions this year.
 
Hintz went the distance, allowing five hits and three walks, while fanning three. Mangia threw a complete game as well and suffered just her fourth loss against 10 wins. Gray and Teson each had two of Augustana's nine hits.
 
AUGUSTANA 4, NORTH CENTRAL 3
 
Junior Christie Wiersema (Morrison HS, Morrison, Ill.) provided the big blow in the night cap, hammering a three-run homer to center in the top of the second. A pair of errors preceded Wiersema's blast, rendering all three runs off Cardinal starter Andrea Starr unearned.
 
Starr helped her own cause in the bottom of the fourth, with a two-run homer off Viking starter Ashley Anderson (Sherrard HS, Viola, Ill.).
 
After Anderson pitched out of a jam in the fifth, stranding runners at second and third, her teammates provided her with another run on the top of the sixth. The Viking hurler reached on a two-out single and moved to second on an error. Freshman catcher Brittany Kellett (The Woodlands HS, The Woodlands, Tex.) followed with an RBI single to put Augustana up 4-2.
 
In the bottom of the seventh, Mangia led off with a single and scored on a two-out RBI hit by Portillo. Kayla Antle singled also, but Anderson got Tinkoff to pop to Chaney Tambling (Dwight HS, Dwight, Ill.) at third to end the contest.
 
Anderson moved to 11-6 with the complete-game victory. Starr went the distance as well, but dropped to 13-4 despite not allowing an earned run.