BOX SCORE

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Missouri Western snapped No. 24 Augustana softball's seven-game win streak, holding the Vikings to just four hits, in a 4-1 win over the Vikings on Saturday. The Griffons (19-9) scored a run in each of the first three innings and held Augustana (17-5) off the board until the top of the sixth.
 
Karlee Koopman (4-1) was handed her first loss of the season after allowing two runs on three hits while striking out three. Caitlin Nichol led Augustana at the plate going 2 for 3 while Sarah Kennedy finished 1 for 3 with a double, her team-leading 10th of the season.
 
The Griffons took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first after Tiffany Gillaspy tripled with one out and came around to score on a wild pitch. Missouri Western extended its lead to 2-0 after a leadoff home run by Kailey Green in the bottom of the second.
 
Nichol got a one-out bunt single in the top of the third but Missouri Western pitcher Janie Smith got Jordan Schaffer to bounce into a double play to end the inning.
 
The Griffons went ahead 3-0 in the bottom of the third on an RBI single by Green that scored Gillaspy who started the rally with a one-out double. Green drove in her third run of the game to give Missouri Western a 4-0 lead in the fifth.
 
Kennedy led off the top of the sixth with her team-leading 10th double of the season and eventually came around to score when Jordan Schaffer reached on an error to make the score 4-1. Augustana went down quietly in the top of the seventh and the Griffons would stop the Vikings' win streak at seven.
 
Augustana will play two more games at the Missouri Western Invite on Sunday. Augustana will take on Washburn at 9 a.m. before closing-out the six-game trip with Missouri Southern State at 3 p.m.