Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

CLERMONT, Fla. – Augustana dropped a pair of contests Friday afternoon at Legends Way Ballfields. Alma defeated the Vikings 8-3 and Finlandia handed Coach Kris Kistler's squad a 5-4 setback. With a 3-7 record, the team wraps up play in Florida with games against Concordia (Minn.) and Mitchell on Saturday, March 4.
 
ALMA 8, AUGUSTANA 3
 
After junior Alaina Hofmann (Moline HS, Moline., Ill.) threw her ninth consecutive hitless inning in the bottom of the first, she singled to start a two-run Augustana second that put the Vikings on top. Junior Zayne Blumberg (Rock Canyon HS, Denver, Colo.) followed with a single to left and advanced to second on the throw when Hofmann reached third. One out later, Haley Ruch (Lincoln-Way North HS, Frankfort, Ill.) delivered a two-run single to left-center and Augustana led 2-0.
 
The Scots cut it to 2-1 with a run in the bottom of the second and took the lead with two in the third. Anna Couture's bases-loaded walk forced in the first Alma run, but Hofmann escaped further damage, leaving the bases full. Riley Terwiliger's two-run single to right in the third put the Scots on top.
 
Alma added two runs in the fifth and three in the sixth against sophomore reliever Kelcie Fredrickson (Fisher HS, Foosland, Ill.). The Vikings tallied their final run in the top of the seventh when pinch-runner Clare Kramer (Prophetstown HS, Lyndon, Ill.) scored on a passed ball.
 
Ruch went 3-for-3 with two RBI. Hofmann (3-1) gave up three hits and three runs in 2 1/3 innings and absorbed her first loss of the year. McKenzie Creed had three of the Scots' 11 hits and Morgan Stratton went the distance in the circle to get the win.
 
FINLANDIA 5, AUGUSTANA 4
 
Makenna Lloyd's infield hit plated Denia Bent with the eventual winning run in the bottom of the fifth in Augustana's second game of the day.
 
The Vikings took an early 4-0 lead with a run in the first and three more in the second. Sophomore Rachel Anderson (Rochester HS, Rochester, Ill.) reached on a Lion error and scored in the first. In the second, Baillie Brooks' (Dakota Ridge HS, Littleton, Colo.) one-out triple and Brittany Kellett's (The Woodlands HS, The Woodlands, Texas) RBI single made it 2-0. Freshman Alyssa  Klahn (Lincoln-Way Central HS, New Lenox, Ill.) knocked in Kellett with a sacrifice fly to right and classmate Dina Falk (Lake Park HS, Bloomingdale, Ill.) came around to score from second on the play as well.
 
After a pair of hitless innings, Augustana starter Danielle Klatt (Mountain Vista HS, Highlands Ranch, Colo.) surrendered four runs in the third. Emily Nguyen drove in three with a bases-loaded double and Lloyd's single to right brought her home with the tying run. Freshman Isabel Salas (Plano HS, Plano, Ill.) came out of the pen and fanned Kassandra Avila to end the inning.
 
Salas struck out the side in the fourth, but the Lions touched her for the go-ahead run in the  fifth. She hit Bent and Nguyen to start the inning and Jayleen Bonilla's sacrifice moved the runners to second and third. Lloyd followed with an infield hit, scoring Bent to put Finlandia up 5-4. Fredrickson came on and retired the next two Lions to avoid further damage.
 
The Vikings threatened against Nguyen—who relieved Bent to start the third—but stranded runners at first and second in the sixth inning and left the potential tying run at second in the seventh.
 
Kellett, Falk and junior Shelby Grandt (Broomfield HS, Broomfield, Colo.) each had two hits for Augustana. Salas (0-1) took the  tough loss. Nguyen, who threw five scoreless innings out of the Lion pen, got the win.