Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 | Box Score 3

CLERMONT, Fla. – The 20th-ranked Augustana softball team improved to 5-0 on the young season, getting victories over Houghton (13-0), Misericordia (3-2) and St. Benedict (8-5) over the weekend at the NTC Complex. Three Viking hurlers combined on a one-hitter in the win over Houghton on Saturday, February 28. On Sunday, March 1, freshman Zayne Blumberg (Rock Canyon HS, Denver, Colo.) doubled in the eventual winning run in the bottom of the sixth to beat Misericordia and a five-run fourth keyed the victory over St. Benedict.
 
Coach Kris Kistler's club will take on Alvernia and Ferrum on Tuesday, March 3 at the NTC Complex.
 
AUGUSTANA 3, MISERICORDIA 2 – 03/01/15
 
With Sunday's first game deadlocked at 2-2, junior Ashley Anderson (Sherrard HS, Viola, Ill.) led off the Augustana sixth with a single to center. Junior Kendra Rakers (Belleville West HS, Millstadt, Ill.) ran for Anderson and moved to second on a sacrifice by freshman pitcher Shelby Grandt (Broomfield HS, Broomfield, Colo.). Blumberg followed with a double to left, scoring Rakers with the go-ahead run. Grandt hit a batter in the bottom of the frame, but retired Misericordia to earn the win.
 
Senior Christie Wiersema (Morrison HS, Morrison, Ill.) went the first 3 1/3 innings and allowed one run on a hit and three walks. Grandt came on in the fourth to get the Vikings out of a jam and preserve a 2-1 lead. Augustana had gone ahead 2-0 in the third on a leadoff double by senior Chelsea Lavin (Downers Grove South HS, Downers Grove, Ill.), an RBI triple by senior Laura Behnke (St. Francis HS, Roselle, Ill.) and a Cougar passed ball.
 
Misericordia tied it in the top of the sixth on a bases loaded hit-by-pitch.
 
Anderson had two of the Vikings' five hits against Cougar hurler Alissa Steier. Grandt allowed just one unearned run in her 3 2/3 innings of work. She allowed three hits, walked one and fanned a pair.
 
AUGUSTANA 8, ST. BENEDICT 5 – 03/01/15
 
Ashley Anderson got the call in the circle against the Blazers in Sunday's second game and went the distance to improve to 2-0 on the year. She gave up five runs (four earned) on six hits and two walks, but fanned eight.
 
Junior Kassandra Anderson (Geneseo HS, Silvis, Ill.) led off the top of the second with a double to right and moved to third on a Brittany Kellett (The Woodlands HS, The Woodlands, Texas) sacrifice. Kassandra Anderson scored when freshman Lauren Severson (Morris HS, Morris, Ill.) reached on an error and Severson came across with the second Viking run on Behnke's RBI double to right. Augustana extended its lead to 3-0 on Wiersema's RBI single in the third.
 
Megan Toninato touched Ashley Anderson for a two-run double in the bottom of the third, but the Vikings answered with a five-spot in the top of the fourth. Severson led off the frame with a single to center and Behnke and Ashley Anderson had RBI singles. Wiersema brought in two when she reached on a fielder's choice and Kassandra Anderson drove in the final run of the inning with a groundout.
 
St. Benedict plated one in the fifth and two in the sixth, but Ashley Anderson set the Blazers down in the seventh for the victory. Behnke had a pair of hits, as did Ashley Anderson, helping her own cause. Wiersema knocked in three, Behnke a pair and Severson scored twice.
 
AUGUSTANA 13, HOUGHTON 0 – 02/28/15
 
A second-inning infield hit was all that Houghton could muster against Augustana pitchers Wiersema, freshman Alaina Hofmann (Moline HS, Moline, Ill.) and Rakers on Saturday. Wiersema started and went two innings, allowing just that scratch single, but walking three. Hofmann walked two and fanned two in her three innings and was credited with the win. Rakers finished up, setting down two Highlanders on strikes in her one inning in the circle.
 
Meanwhile, the offense jumped on Houghton pitcher Sarah Beirne early. Behnke led off the game with a walk and scored the game's first run. She drove in two more with a double in the second before scoring the Vikings' fourth run.
 
Sophomore Ashley Klauss (Trinity HS, Chicago, Ill.) extended the lead to 5-0 with an RBI groundout in the fourth and Augustana exploded for eight runs in the sixth. Big hits in the inning included a two-run single by senior Cassie Saufley (Normal West HS, Hudson, Ill.), an RBI double by Grandt and a two-run triple off the bat of Kassandra Anderson.
 
Kassandra Anderson ended up 4-for-4 with three runs scored and two driven in. Saufley was 2-for-2 with a run and two RBI and Behnke scored twice and knocked in a pair.