Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
Kelsey Kalkman hit a 10th inning solo home run to lead the Augustana softball team to a 2-1 victory over Wayne State Saturday at Bowden Field. The Vikings also posted a late comeback in the nightcap to win 9-6 to complete the sweep.
The Vikings improved to 26-5 and 8-0 in conference play while Wayne State dropped to 21-7 and 6-2 in the league. Augie took advantage of several scoring opportunities, knocking out five home runs in the two games.
The first game was a pitchers' duel, as 11 hits were given up total in 10 innings of play. The game was scoreless until, in the top of the sixth, Hannah Engelkamp took the first pitch of the inning over the center field fence for a solo home run to give Wayne State the one run lead. Augie answered quickly in the sixth, when
Taylor Kapsch scored from first on a single by
Jenny Brown. The teams took turns stranding runners until Kalkman took a 3-2 pitch over the fence for the win.
Ashley Meyer registered the complete game win and improved to 9-2 on the season. She retired five and gave up six hits. Katie Goetzinger took the loss for Wayne State, striking out 10 batters and giving up five hits.
Wayne State came out ferociously in the second contest, posting five runs in the first three innings. But the Vikings began to chip away at the lead. In the bottom of the third,
Kayla Henke reached on an error, and two batters later
Elizabeth Murray homered to cut the deficit to 5-2.
The Vikings added another run in the fourth, then exploded for six runs in the fifth, on a two-run home run by
Traci Fransen and a bases-clearing grand slam by Henke. Wayne State mustered one run in the top of the seventh, but
Chelsey Durland was able to seal the deal and move her record to 5-2 on the season. She threw 4 2/3 innings, coming in in relief of
Britt Stewart in the third inning.
Augustana will play Sunday in Omaha, Neb., against Nebraska-Omaha. The game is a postponed matchup from early March. The doubleheader will begin at 2 p.m.
