Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Augustana bounced back from a 6-3 first-round CCIW Tournament loss to top-seeded host Illinois Wesleyan Thursday with a 7-6 win over North Central in an elimination game at IWU Field. Coach Kris Kistler's Vikings (26-13-1) move on to Friday play and will face the loser of Thursday night's Illinois Wesleyan-Wheaton matchup at 10:00 a.m.
 
ILLINOIS WESLEYAN 6, AUGUSTANA 3
 
A four-run Titan second proved to be the difference in the Vikings' first round loss.
 
With the scored tied at 1-1, Katie Caulfield led off against junior Ashley Anderson (Sherrard HS, Viola, Ill.) with a double to center. Anderson retired the next two batters, but Hannah Bowen's double down the left field line plated Caulfield with the go-ahead run. Bowen scored on Laura Bonds' infield hit and Danielle Smith capped the inning with a two-run homer to left.
 
The Vikings chipped away, with a run each in the third and fourth innings. Singles by sophomore Ashley Klauss (Trinity HS, Chicago, Ill.) and Ashley Anderson produced the run in the third.  However, IWU answered in the bottom half on Cassidy Tarpey's RBI single. Senior Jenna Teson (Jacobs HS, Algonquin, Ill.) drew a bases-loaded walk to drive in the fourth-inning run, but Augustana left the bases loaded.
 
Mackenzie Marquis came on in relief of Titan starter and winner Chloe Montgomery (18-3) to start the fifth and shut the Vikings out over the final three innings to earn the save. Ashley Anderson (8-8) went the distance and took the loss.
 
A Mary Rankin RBI double gave the hosts a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first and Augustana senior Chelsea Lavin (Downers Grove South HS, Downers Grove, Ill.) tied it with a home run leading off the top of the second.
 
AUGUSTANA 7, NORTH CENTRAL 6
 
The Vikings got homers from freshman Zayne Blumberg (Rock Canyon HS, Denver, Colo.) and junior Jennifer Gray (Lincoln-Way East HS, Mokena, Ill.), taking a 7-1 lead after three innings, and then weathered a North Central comeback, hanging on for a 7-6 win.
 
Freshman Shelby Grandt (Broomfield HS, Broomfield, Colo.) set the Cardinals down in order in the top of the first and her teammates got her four runs in the bottom half. Senior Laura Behnke (St. Francis HS, Roselle, Ill.) wore an Andrea Starr pitch to lead off. Teson singled to left and Ashley Anderson walked to load the bases. Lavin hit into a fielder's choice that scored Behnke with the game's first run. Blumberg then launched a three-run shot over the center field fence for a 4-0 Augustana lead.
 
In the second, it was Gray hit by a pitch to start the inning. Two outs later, Ashley Anderson knocked her in with a single to left.
 
After North Central touched Grandt for an unearned run in the top of the third, the Vikings got a two-out single from senior Christina Pagan (West HS, Normal, Ill.) in the bottom of the frame. Gray followed with a two-run blast to left center to put Augustana on top 7-1.
 
After not allowing a hit through three innings, Grandt gave up one in the fourth and had another runner reach on an error. However, she left both stranded. In the fifth, though, the Cardinals got to her for four runs. Carly Trenhaile's three-run homer was the big blow. Senior Christie Wiersema (Morrison HS, Morrison, Ill.) came out of the pen and got a groundout to end the inning.
 
North Central pushed across a run in the seventh to make it 7-6, but Wiersema escaped further damage, leaving the tying run at second and the potential go-ahead run at first. She earned her first save of the year, while Grandt moved to 9-3 with the win. Blumberg finished 2-for-4 with three RBI. Gray was 2-for-2 with two runs scored and two driven in and Lavin went 2-for-4 as well.