Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – For the second day in a row, the Augustana softball team split a pair of games at Washington University's Mizuno Invitational. The Vikings defeated Buena Vista 10-8, but fell 3-1 to the host Bears. Coach Kris Kistler's 14th-ranked club is now 12-2 on the year.
 
AUGUSTANA 10, BUENA VISTA 8
 
Led by Jennifer Gray's (Lincoln-Way East HS, Frankfort, Ill.) 4-for-4 performance, Augustana plated 10 runs against the Beavers for the second time in as many days. The Vikings rallied from an 8-2 deficit to earn the victory, scoring three in the top of the seventh to cap the comeback.
 
Trailing 8-7 going to the top of the seventh, sophomore Brittany Kellett (The Woodlands HS, The Woodlands, Texas) led off with a homer to tie it. Gray followed with a double and scored the go-ahead run on Laura Behnke's (St. Francis HS, Roselle, Ill.) RBI single to center. Behnke put Augustana up 10-8, scoring on a single to right by junior Emily Rasche (Moline HS, Moline, Ill.). Freshman Shelby Grandt (Broomfield HS, Broomfield, Colo.), who came out of the pen to get the final out of the sixth, stranded two Beavers in the seventh to earn her fourth win in as many decisions.
 
Gray had a two-out single in the top of the second and eventually scored on Behnke's RBI single to center to give Augustana a 1-0 lead.
 
Buena Vista scored six in the bottom of the third with the help of three Augustana errors. Katie Yoder's two-run double was the biggest of six Beaver hits in the inning. Freshman Alaina Hofmann (Moline HS, Moline, Ill.) came on in relief of Ashley Anderson (Sherrard HS, Viola, Ill.) and avoided further damage by stranding three runners.
 
The Vikings got one back in the fourth after Kellett's leadoff double. However, Buena Vista scored two more unearned runs in the bottom half on Yoder's two-run single. Hofmann again helped avert more damage, chasing down an errant throw and cutting down a runner at the plate.
 
Ashley Anderson started Augustana's comeback with a leadoff double in the top of the fifth. Kassandra Anderson (Geneseo HS, Silvis, Ill.) delivered an RBI double later in the inning and Gray drove in two more with a single to get the Vikings within 8-5. The Vikings added a pair of runs in the sixth—one on a Rasche sacrifice fly—to set up their big seventh.
 
In addition to Gray's four, Behnke, Jenna Teson (Jacobs HS, Algonquin, Ill.), Ashley Anderson and Kellett each had a pair of hits. Behnke, Rasche and Gray each drove in two runs.
 
WASHINGTON 3, AUGUSTANA 1
 
For the second day in a row, Washington's Annie Pitkin handcuffed the Vikings, allowing just three hits and one unearned run in a complete game performance. She walked one and fanned nine, moving to 12-3 with the win.
 
Pitkin's Bear teammates got to Augustana starter Grandt for all three runs in the first two innings. Paige Biles drew a walk leading off the bottom of the first. She was erased by an Alyssa Wilson fielder's choice, but Wilson later came around to score on Janet Taylor's single to center. Biles and Wilson had RBI singles in the second as Washington went up 3-0.
 
Rasche had a leadoff single in the fifth and scored the Vikings only run on a passed ball.
 
Grandt settled in and held the Bears scoreless over the final four innings. She went the distance, allowing three runs on eight hits, walking one and fanning four. She suffered her first loss after four wins. Rasche had two of Augustana's three hits.