Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
Behind the strong starting pitching of
Britt Stewart and
Ashley Meyer, Augustana swept a softball doubleheader from MSU Moorhead by scores of 10-0 in five innings and 6-0.
The Vikings, ranked No. 23 in the nation, improved to 20-5 overall and 4-0 in the NSIC, while MSU Moorhead slipped to 2-18 and 0-4 in the league.
Stewart, who tossed a no-hitter against Minnesota, Crookston, on Friday, nearly duplicated that effort on Saturday. Against MSUM, Stewart had a perfect game going for 4 2/3 innings. She mowed down the first 14 hitters she faced, striking out 8 in the process, before giving up a 2-out single to Amanda Moore in the fifth inning.
Stewart finished the game with a 2-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts as she moved her record to 9-1.
Meyer was equally impressive in the first game. Meyer allowed only 1 hit in 4 innings of work as she improved to 7-2 on the season. The only hit Meyer allowed was a 1-out bunt single to Betsy Dickson.
In the first game, Augustana took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when the Vikings scored an unearned run. The score remained 1-0 until the Vikings broke the game open with 4 runs in the third and 5 runs in the fourth.
In the third, the first 2 hitters were retired before
Traci Fransen walked. Augie then strung together 4 straight singles, the last being a 2-run single by
Brittany Coufal to increase the Augustana advantage to 5-0.
Augustana doubled its lead in the fourth.
Kayla Henke led off the inning with her second home run of the season. Fransen and
Chelsey Durland each had RBI doubles in the inning while Stewart and Coufal lined run-scoring singles.
Coufal led the Viking offense by going 2-for-3 with 3 RBI, while Stewart and Durland each had 2 hits for the Vikings, which had 11 hits as a team. Stewart scored twice, as did Murray, while Durland finished with 2 runs and 2 RBI.
In Game 2, Augustana scored single runs in the first and second innings to take a 2-0 lead. While Stewart made sure those runs would stand up, the Vikings added a pair of insurance runs in the fifth and sixth innings to put the game out of reach.
Henke powered the Viking offense by going 2-for-3 with 3 runs and 2 RBI. Fransen was also 2-for-3 with 1 RBI, while
Kelsey Kalkman was 2-for-4. Durland finished 1-for-3 with 2 runs scored.
Augustana returns home on Wednesday for its home opener. The Vikings take on Upper Iowa at 2 p.m. at Bowden Field.
