BOX SCORE 1 KISSIMMEE, Fla. – No. 16 Augustana softball closed out its spring trip with a pair of victories on Friday morning. The Vikings (11-4) defeated Ashland (Ohio) 6-2 in a sunrise special at 8 a.m. before they took down Northwood (Mich.) 6-5 in a nine-inning affair. The Vikings finish their nine-game trip (one game cancelled due to weather) with a 7-2 record.
GAME ONE
Jenelle Trautmann went the distance, throwing all seven innings while racking up six strikeouts and allowing eight hits and two runs for her 9th win of the year.
Lindsay Spanton led the Vikings with a pair of hits and two runs batted in to match.
Theresa McMahon and
Emily Heinz also tallied two base knocks apiece.
Jordan Schaffer recorded her first of two RBI when she was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in McMahon in the opening frame. The Golden Eagles responded with a run in the bottom half to tie the game 1-1.
Augustana was held scoreless in the next three innings and Ashland took a brief lead in the bottom of the fourth with a leadoff home run.
Spanton opened the top of the fifth with a single up the middle and Trautmann moved her to second on a sacrifice. Schaffer singled through the left side, scoring Spanton to even the score at 2-2.
Trautmann surrendered a hit in the bottom half but stranded the runner setting up the Vikings to take back the lead. Heinz led off the sixth with a single up the middle and advanced to second on a passed ball, moving her into scoring position.
McMahon's hard ground ball squirted through the left side and moved Heinz to third.
Jenny Brown extended her hitting streak to 14 games with a single and scored Heinz to take the lead, 3-2.
Spanton then took advantage of and Ashland error and scored McMahon and Brown to give the Vikings a three-run cushion.
After a scoreless sixth from the Golden Eagles, Heinz plated
Erin Kempf who reached base by way of walk. The Vikings' 6-2 lead would hold as Trautmann fanned the first batter and forced two groundouts to retire the final three Ashland hitters.
GAME TWO
Northwood was seeking revenge from a 7-2 loss earlier in the week but the Vikings had other plans.
Brittany Coufal's groundout RBI scored Kempf in the bottom of the ninth for Augustana's third consecutive win.
Trautmann threw all nine innings for her second win of the day and improved her overall record to 10-3. McMahon belted her third home run of the year and racked up three more runs batted in. Coufal turned in an 0-2 day but reached base twice on walks and knocked in the game-winning run.
Northwood drew first blood after the leadoff hitter reached by error and Trautmann walked in the first run. The Vikings responded immediately with McMahon stealing home on a double steal by her and Brown, evening up the game 1-1.
Trautmann blanked the Timberwolves in the top of the second and McMahon gave Augustana a three-run lead with one swing of the bat in the bottom half. Chelsi Winscowski reached on an error and
Carly Peterson reached first with by way of fielder's choice.
McMahon then stepped to the plate and launched a ball over the center field fence to give Augsutana a 4-1 lead. In the top of the third, Trautmann walked in another run and a second Timberwolf scored on a wild pitch, but Trautmann fanned the next two batters to limit the damage to two runs.
Northwood evened up the score in the top of the fifth after a triple scored their fourth run to tie the score. Augustana went down in order in the bottom half and Trautmann shut the door on NU's scoring chance in the top of the sixth.
The top of the seventh was drama-filled with Trautmann walking the first two batters but Brown turned a double play to neutralize the Northwood attack and Trautmann struck out the final batter of the inning.
Northwood's pitcher struck out the Viking side in the final inning of regulation and the Vikings were headed to extras for the second time on their trip.
The Timberwolves put the pressure on in the top of the eighth by scoring on a fielding error by the Viking shortstop and took a 5-4 lead after seven-and-a-half innings of play.
McMahon started a second in the bottom of the inning with the international tiebreaker in play and Brown moved her to third on a groundout. Trautmann drove in McMahon with a sacrifice fly to left field tying the game at 5-5.
Northwood's lead off runner was moved to third on a ground ball but picked off by Trautmann and the inning was ended on a fielder's choice.
With a chance to win, Kempf opened the inning at second and was moved to third on Winscowski's sacrifice. Coufal then ended the game with a ground ball to the shortstop to score Coufal. Augustana scraped by with their 6-5 victory to close out their spring trip.
The Vikings return to action at the Northwest Missouri Tournament beginning on Mach 22 with a game against Central Missouri. At 10 a.m.
