Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

CHICAGO,  Ill. – Freshman Alivia Phelps (Coal City HS, Mazon, Ill.) fired a two-hit shutout in Friday's nightcap to help Augustana earn a CCIW-opening doubleheader split with North Park at the Holmgren Athletic Complex. Coach Kris Kistler's Vikings, now 14-4 overall and 1-1 in the conference, dropped the opener 6-5 before riding Phelps' performance to a 2-0 win in the second game. The hosts moved to 7-13 on the season and 1-1 in the league.
 
NORTH PARK 6, AUGUSTANA 5
 
Two unearned runs in the bottom of the seventh doomed Kistler's bunch in the opener. With her team trailing 5-4, NPU's Hayley Jackson got things started with a one-out infield hit off freshman starter Cecelia Peine (Holt HS, Wentzville, Mo.). Kylee O'Connor and Kendall Podschweidt followed with a singles to load the bases. Jackson scored the tying run and O'Connor the game-winner when Sam Camilleri reached on an error.
 
Peine fell to 3-2 with the loss. Bekah Ryan (1-1), who threw the final two innings for North Park, earned the win. Sophomore Brittany Pospishil (Lincoln-Way East HS, Mokena, Ill.) had three of Augustana's eight hits and junior Haley Ruch (Lincoln-Way North, Frankfort, Ill.) a pair.
 
The visitors jumped in front with three runs in the top of the first. Sophomore Dina Falk (Lake Park HS, Bloomingdale, Ill.) led off the game with a single and eventually scored on the front end of a double steal with freshman Molly Wrenn (Geneva HS, Geneva, Ill.). Wrenn later scored on an NPU error and Ruch drove in another run with a single to right.
 
Jackson's RBI groundout in the third got North Park on the board, but Augustana answered with a run in the top of the fifth, going up 4-1 on Zayne Blumberg's (Rock Canyon HS, Denver, Colo.) leadoff double and a Kelsey Heiland (Mountain Vista HS, Highlands Ranch, Colo.) sacrifice fly.
 
NPU tied it in the bottom of the fifth, parlaying a leadoff hit batter and three singles into three runs.
 
In the top of the seventh, Augustana regained the lead (5-4) when Blumberg drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on Wrenn's sacrifice, stole third and scored on a throwing error.
 
AUGUSTANA 2, NORTH PARK 0
 
Phelps was the story in game two. The freshman—who no-hit Johnson State in her only other start this year—limited North Park to just two hits and escaped runner-on-third, no-out threats in the first and fourth innings.
 
NPU's Ellie Manderfield led off the game with a single to left and moved all the way to third on a wild pitch. However, she was retired at the plate by Augustana catcher Marissa Catalano (Lake Park HS, Medinah, Ill.) on a failed squeeze attempt by Jackson.
 
After Phelps stranded a North Park runner at third in the top of the third, Kistler's club took the lead with a run in the bottom half. Ruch led off with a single through the middle, moved to second on a Catalano sacrifice and scored on Amanda Ray's (Downers Grove South HS, Downers Grove, Ill.) single to center.
 
North Park mounted another threat in the fourth when Jackson led off with a triple to right, but Phelps retired the next three batters to escape unscathed. Her teammates got her an insurance run in the bottom of the frame. Wrenn led off with a double to right center and eventually scored on Ruch's two-out single to left.
 
Phelps settled in and retired 12 of the last 13 batters she faced, pitching around a leadoff walk in the seventh. She fanned two and issued two base-on-balls en route to her second win in as many decisions this year. NPU starter Amara Leith (1-3) took the loss.
 
Ruch paced the offense, going 2-for-2 with a run scored and another knocked in.