PEORIA, Ill. – The Augustana Vikings softball team rounded out their first trip to the Mount Mary Slugger series with two wins on Friday, defeating the Edgewood Eagles 7-4 and Lincoln Lynx 9-1. Augie finishes the two-day stay with a 3-1 record.
Game One (W 7-4 vs. Edgewood)
After a scoreless first inning both ways, the Vikings got on the board first in the second thanks to a bases-clearing triple from
Josie Smith to put Augie up 3-0. Two singles and a walk in the frame put a runner at every base before Smith emptied them with her hit to right field. Edgewood got out of the inning with back-to-back ground outs and cut into the deficit in their half of the second with a score of their own.
Augustana led 3-1 through the third inning and again the Eagles inched closer in the fourth, tallying one more score to make it 3-2. They did the same in the fifth and sixth to tie and eventually take a 4-3 lead heading into the Vikings' final at-bat opportunity.
In the top of the seventh, J. Smith got things started with a leadoff single, advancing safely to second on a fielder's choice that allowed both her and
Allyson Fricano to reach base with nobody out. A groundout ensued to move the runners over with one away, setting up a
Nichole Nash sacrifice fly to right field to knot the game up at 4-4. With two outs and two on,
Erin Smith took a two-strike pitch to left field to give the Vikings the lead. Augie broke it open the very next hitter as
Morgan Bielfeldt delivered a two-run home run to extend it to a three-run advantage.
Becca Cash pitched a scoreless bottom half of the inning and Augustana escaped with the 7-4 win to begin the day. J. Smith finished a perfect 3-3 at the plate in the contest with three runs batted in. Nash, E. Smith, Bielfeldt, and
Sydney Ohrtmann all tallied two hits apiece.
Game Two (W 9-1 vs. Lincoln)
It did not take long for Augie to put runs on the board in game two as RBI hits from Nash and E. Smith started things off. A passed ball and RBI ground out followed to give the Vikings a 4-0 advantage after an inning of work.
In the fifth, Augie added on to their lead without producing a hit on any of their three scoring plays. An error from Lincoln allowed the first run of the frame to come in, with the next two crossing the plate due to two passed balls. The Vikings led 7-0 after five.
The Lynx tallied a run in the sixth, but the Vikings responded with two in the bottom half on run-producing singles from
Anna Maciejewski and
Meghan Nixon to make it 9-1. The eight-run margin in the sixth was good for a walk-off win to close out the first trip to Peoria with a 3-1 record.
The Vikings out-hit the Lynx 8-5, led by two from E. Smith and
Jannae Mehaffey. Cash went the distance on the mound to pick up her second win of the day, striking out six in the process.
Augie will be back in action for part two of the Slugger Series next Thurday and Friday.
