Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

CLERMONT, Fla. – Coach Kris Kistler's 20th-ranked Augustana softball team got the 2015 season off on the right foot Thursday, defeating Lyndon State 8-0 and Alma 7-2 at the NTC Complex. Senior Christie Wiersema (Morrison HS, Morrison, Ill.) and freshman Shelby Grandt (Broomfield HS, Broomfield, Colo.) combined on a one-hit shutout against the Hornets and junior Ashley Anderson (Sherrard HS, Viola, Ill.) went the distance for the win over the Scots.
 
Kistler's club will take on Houghton and Lyndon State on Saturday, February 28 at 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., respectively.
 
AUGUSTANA 8, LYNDON STATE 0
 
Taylor Young's two-out single in the top of the first was the only hit that Lyndon State (2-5) could manage off the Wiersema-Grandt combination in the Vikings' season opener. Wiersema went the first three innings and earned the win. She allowed Young's hit and a walk while fanning three. The only batter to reach in Grandt's two innings of relief came when she plunked Tori Maslan with one out in the fifth.
 
Senior Laura Behnke (St. Francis HS, Roselle, Ill.) led off the bottom of the first with a single and came around to score the game's first run when Wiersema reached on a Hornet error. Freshman Keegan Wergin (Silver Creek HS, Longmont, Colo.) then plated Wiersema with a double to left and the Vikings led 2-0 after one.
 
Freshman third baseman Lauren Severson (Morris HS, Morris, Ill.) had an RBI triple in the second and scored on a Behnke sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 4-0.
 
Augustana added two runs each in the fourth and fifth innings to end the game early. Behnke blasted a two-run homer in the fourth and Wergin's fifth-inning triple scored senior Cassie Saufley (Normal West HS, Hudson, Ill.), who had led off the frame with a single, and Grandt, who had followed with a double to center.
 
Behnke and Wergin each finished 2-for-3 with three RBI. Behnke also scored twice, as did Severson.
 
AUGUSTANA 7, ALMA 2
 
The Vikings jumped on Alma (3-5) early, scoring five in the top of the first to give Anderson all the runs she would need. Senior Jenna Teson (Jacobs HS, Algonquin, Ill.) got things started with a one-out single. An Anderson single and a Wiersema base-on-balls loaded the bases and after Teson scored on an error, Severson plated two more runs with a double. Sophomore catcher Brittany Kellett (The Woodlands HS, The Woodlands, Texas) capped the inning with a two-run single to center.
 
Augustana scored a run on a wild pitch and Kellett drove in another with a sacrifice fly in the third as Augustana went ahead 7-0.
 
The Scots got to Anderson for a pair of runs in the fifth, but she closed them over the final two frames to get her first win.
 
In addition to Kellett's three RBI, Severson was 2-for-2 with two runs scored and two driven in.