Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Coach Kris Kistler's Augustana softball team won its first two games on Friday to force a winner-take-all final against Illinois Wesleyan at the CCIW Tournament. The fourth-seeded Vikings eliminated third seed Wheaton 8-1 in a morning game and came back in a noon contest to defeat the top-seeded host Titans 4-3 in 10 innings. The two wins force an "if necessary" showdown with IWU beginning at approximately 3:45 p.m. on Friday. The conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament will be on the line.
 
AUGUSTANA 8, WHEATON 1
 
Augustana jumped in front with four runs in the bottom of the second inning, worked out of two bases-loaded jams in the middle innings and put the game away with a four-run sixth, eliminating third-seeded Wheaton 8-1 in the first game of the day.
 
Junior Jennifer Gray (Lincoln-Way East HS, Mokena, Ill.) got the Vikings on the board with a one-out homer in the second. The round-tripper was Gray's third of the season and her second in as many days. Later in the frame, pinch-runner Kassandra Anderson (Geneseo HS, Silvis, Ill.) was awarded home on a Katie Thornton illegal pitch and senior Laura Behnke (St. Francis HS, Roselle, Ill.) followed with a two-run homer to right field.
 
Augustana starter Ashley Anderson (Sherrard HS, Viola, Ill.) stranded two Thunder runners in the second and left the bags full in the fourth. Wheaton scratched out a run against her in the fifth on a bases-loaded hit batter, but once again she left the bags full, maintaining a 4-1 lead.
 
The Thunder stranded two more in the top of the sixth before the Vikings added four runs in the bottom half. Behnke and classmate Chelsea Lavin (Downers Grove South HS, Downers Grove, Ill.) each doubled in a run and senior Christie Wiersema (Morrison HS, Morrison, Ill.) singled in two.
 
Fittingly Wiersema, who came on in relief of Anderson in the sixth, retired Wheaton in the top of the seventh, leaving two more runners on base. The Thunder left 14 on for the game. Ashley Anderson went 5 1/3 innings and scattered seven hits that yielded just one unearned run. She walked two and fanned three and improved to 9-8 with the win. Wiersema earned a save for the second game in a row.
 
Behnke was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and three knocked in. Senior Cassie Saufley (Normal West HS, Hudson, Ill.) went 2-for-2 with two runs scored.
 
AUGUSTANA 4, ILLINOIS WESLEYAN 3 (10)
 
Behnke's two-out solo home run in the top of the 10th inning lifted Augustana to victory in the noon matchup. IWU starter Jenna Nowland had surrendered just two hits through 9 2/3 innings before Behnke's blast over the left center field fence at IWU Field. Wiersema (6-1) set the Titans down in the bottom of the 10th, completing her seventh inning of relief and earning the win.
 
The Vikings took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second. Senior Christina Pagan (West HS, Normal, Ill.) drew a two-out walk and came around to score on Kassandra Anderson's double to right center.
 
IWU went up 2-1 in the third. Sam Gudat touched Augustana starter Shelby Grandt (Broom field HS, Broomfield, Colo.) for a one-out double. One out later, Laura Bonds and Danielle Smith had back-to-back RBI singles. Center fielder Kassandra Anderson's throw to Lavin cut down Smith attempting to stretch her hit to a double.
 
The Vikings re-took the lead in the sixth. Senior Jenna Teson (Jacobs HS, Algonquin, Ill.) reached on an error to lead off and moved to second on a Lavin sacrifice. Freshman Zayne Blumberg (Rock Canyon HS, Denver, Colo.) then hammered a Noland offering over the left field fence to put Augustana on top 3-2.
 
IWU tied it in the bottom of the seventh. Amanda Lack had a leadoff double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Katie Caulfield.
 
Wiersema gave up just two hits and a run in seven innings of relief.