NAPERVILLE, Ill. — Augustana fell in both ends of doubleheader with North Central Saturday at Shanower Family Field. The Cardinals took the first game 2-1 and scored five runs in the seventh and eighth innings of the nightcap to win 9-6. The Vikings dropped to 6-22 on the season and 3-17 in the CCIW, while the hosts improved to 16-13 overall and 12-11 in the league.
 
Coach Kris Kistler's squad is back in action on Sunday, April 25, facing Carroll in a doubleheader in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
 
NORTH CENTRAL 2, AUGUSTANA 1
 
In the opener, North Central grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Katie Del Re drew a leadoff walk from Erin Smith (Columbine HS, Highlands Ranch, Colo.) and scored two outs later on Breanna Adams' single through the middle.
 
Augustana tied it in the fourth. Smith led off with a walk, stole second and scored on Claire Weeks' (Dundee-Crown HS, Sleepy Hollow, Ill.) two-out double to right center.
 
The Cardinals got the go-ahead run against Cecelia Peine (Holt HS, Wentzville, Mo.) in the fifth. Del Re doubled to right center with one out, stole third and  scored on Emily Miller's single to left.
 
Smith and Nadia Ranieri (Riverside-Brookfield HS, North Riverside, Ill.) had respective leadoff singles in the sixth and seventh innings, but Gianna Corban pitched around both to close things out.
 
Corban (8-7) went 2 2/3 innings in relief of Adams and got the win. Smith and Peine each gave up one run in three innings of work. Peine (0-6) suffered the loss. Smith and Ranieri each had two hits for Kistler's club.
 
NORTH CENTRAL 9, AUGUSTANA 6 (8)
 
North Central scored one in the top of the second, two in the third and one in the fourth to go up 4-0 in the nightcap.
 
The Vikings cut the deficit in half on Smith's two-run triple in the bottom of the fourth, then added four in the sixth to go up 6-4. Sydney Ohrtmann (Freeport HS, Rockford, Ill.) led off the sixth with a bunt single and scored on Molly Wrenn's (Geneva HS, Geneva, Ill.) double to center. Olivia Blood (Riverside-Brookfield HS, North Riverside, Ill.) singled in Wrenn, Smith singled in Blood and a Ranieri groundout plated Smith with the final run of the inning.
 
A Del Re single sparked a two-run seventh for North Central. She scored on an Adams single and Miller tallied the tying run on a Talia Torosian ground out.
 
Del Re's RBI double in the top of the eighth gave the Cardinals a 7-6 lead and they added insurance runs on RBI singles by Miller and Dakota Novak.
 
Corban (9-7), who started and finished the contest, pitched around two singles in the bottom of the eighth and earned her second win of the day. She allowed 11 hits and four runs in eight innings. Ranieri, Shaye Arwood (Wheaton Warrenville South HS, Wheaton, Ill.) and Peine each gave up three runs. Peine (0-7) took the loss.
 
Ohrtmann finished 3-for-4. Wrenn, Smith and Jannae Mehaffey (Cherry Creek HS, Englewood, Colo.) each had two hits. Smith drove in three runs and Wrenn and Blood each scored twice.