Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

CLERMONT, Fla. – Augustana opened the 2018 softball season Saturday at Legends Way Field #3 and came away with a split, falling 12-7 to Alma and defeating York (Pa.) 3-2 in eight innings. Coach Kris Kistler's Vikings, 1-1 on the year, will be back in action on Sunday, February 25, taking on York again, before squaring off with St. Mary's (Minn.). Game times are 9:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. EST, respectively.
 
ALMA 12, AUGUSTANA 7
 
The Scots jumped in front with two runs in the bottom of the first against Augustana freshman Cecelia Peine (Holt HS, Wentzville, Mo.). McKenzie Creed had an RBI double and Mary Brooks a run scoring single.
 
Augustana answered with six in the top of the second. Haley Ruch (Lincoln-Way North HS, Frankfort, Ill.) and Marissa Catalano (Lake Park HS, Medinah, Ill.) each had one-out infield singles off Alma starter Katie McClure. Alyssa Klahn (Lincoln-Way Central HS, New Lenox, Ill.) singled to right, scoring Ruch and after a walk, Carly Wilson (Johnsburg HS, Ringwood, Ill.) singled in two more runs for a 3-2 Viking lead. Zayne Blumberg (Broomfield HS, Broomfield, Colo.) added an RBI single in the frame and freshman Molly Wrenn (Geneva HS, Geneva, Ill.) singled in two more.
 
The Scots touched Peine for three in the bottom of the second. Creed had a two-run double.
 
Taylor Belo's (Jacobs HS, Algonquin, Ill.) leadoff triple and Wilson's RBI groundout plated an Augustana run in the top of the fourth to make it 7-5 Vikings.
 
Alma kept chipping away however, plating a run in the fourth and three each in the fifth and sixth.
 
McClure settled in and held Augustans scoreless over the final three innings to earn the win. She allowed nine hits and seven runs in seven innings, walking two and fanning four. Peine (0-1) went the distance as well, surrendering 14 hits and 12 runs, eight of which were earned. She issued three base-on-balls and struck out two.
 
Ruch and Klahn each had a pair of hits, while Wilson drove in three runs and Wrenn two.
 
AUGUSTANA 3, YORK 2
 
The Vikings' second game of the day was a pitcher's duel with Kelcie Fredrickson (Fisher HS, Foosland, Ill.) shutting the Spartans out for seven innings. However, York's Melissa Jurkiewicz and Ginger Lewis did the same to Augustana and the teams went to the eighth to settle things.
 
Spartan Madison Bowen was placed at second base to start the top of the frame. Fredrickson hurt her own cause with an error and a stolen base put runners at second and third with no outs. Another Viking miscue allowed Bowen to score the go-ahead run and Savannah Zittle squeezed in another before Fredrickson eventually coaxed a foul out to end the inning.
 
Klahn started the bottom of the inning at second for the Vikings. Lauren Severson (Morris HS, Morris, Ill.) singled her in and moved to second on the throw home. One out later, Dina Falk (Lake Park HS, Bloomingdale, Ill.) had a bunt single and Wilson followed with a single, driving in pinch-runner Clare Kramer (Prophetstown HS, Lyndon, Ill.) with the tying run and Falk with the game winner.
 
Fredrickson (1-0) allowed just two hits and two unearned runs in her eight innings. She walked one and fanned one and earned the win.  Lewis suffered the loss for York.
 
Falk had two of the Vikings' five hits in the contest.