BEMIDJI, Minn. – No. 12 Augustana softball scored 13 runs and pounded-out 16 hits in both games of today's doubleheader sweep over Bemidji State at BSU Softball Field. The Vikings won game one 13-1 before shutting-out the Beavers (15-19, 6-12 NSIC) 13-0 in game two.
 
Augustana extended its winning streak to 20 games while improving to 37-5, including 18-0 in NSIC play. The Vikings racked up 12 extra-base hits, including six home runs and six doubles.
 
Jenelle Trautmann hit three home runs in the doubleheader bringing her career total to 74. Trautmann is now just one home run shy of moving into a tie for second all-time in NCAA Division II history, and five shy of tying the all-time NCAA Division II record.  
 
Game one
Trautmann led the Vikings past Bemidji State in the opener going 2 for 3 with two home runs and four RBI. She also picked up the win in the circle tossing four innings and striking out four while giving up just three hits.
 
Caitlin Nichol finished 2 for 4 with a double and two runs scored. Sarah Kennedy extended her hitting streak to 22 games finishing 2 for 4 with a double and an RBI. Maddie Merriam was 2 for 3 with a double, a home run, and a career-high four RBI. Karlee Koopman had a career-high three hits in game one, finishing 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI.
 
The Vikings jumped out to a 1-0 lead after the top of the first inning. Nichol led off the game with a double and came around to score after a Carley Pickett struck out swinging but reached on a passed ball.
 
Bemidji State put together a threat in the bottom of the first inning but Trautmann was able to strike out the side to leave the bases loaded.
 
The Vikings then strung together six runs on five hits in the top of the second to extend the lead to 7-0. Jordan Schaffer led off the inning with a single to right field and moved up to third on a bunt single by Koopmna. Merriam then stepped to the plate with runners at the corners and nobody out and blasted a three-run shot, her second home run of the season, over the left field fence to make the score 4-0. The Vikings started a second rally in the inning after two outs were recorded. Kennedy drove in Pickett with an RBI double and Trautmann sent her first home run of the game, a two-run shot to left field, that gave the Vikings a 7-0 lead.
 
Trautmann set the Beavers down in order in the bottom of the second and the third inning started just like the second, but this time the Vikings got three straight doubles from Schaffer, Koopman and Merriam to score two runs an extend the lead to 9-0. Nichol scored an unearned run when Kennedy reached on an error by the BSU left fielder and Trautmann put the Vikings up 13-0 with a two-run home run, her second of the game, to center field.
 
Bemidji State picked up its lone run of the game in the bottom of the fifth, an unearned run that made the final tally 13-1.
 
Game two
It was much of the same for the Vikings in game two as the team finished with 13 runs and 16 hits. Four different players had three hits in game two, led by Nichol who finished 3 for 4 with two home runs.
 
Kennedy extended her hitting streak to 23 games going 3 for 4 with two doubles. The 23-game hitting streak matches her career-long which she set earlier this season extending a five-game hitting streak from May 9 of last season with a hit in the first 18 games this season.
 
Trautmann finished 3 for 3 with a home run while matching her career-high with five RBI. Carly Peterson was 3 for 4 with two runs scored and two stolen bases.
 
Carley Pickett earned her 11th win of the season and improved to 11-3 after allowing just three hits in four innings of work.
 
The Vikings used a big first inning to gain an early lead over Bemidji State. Augustana scored four runs on four hits in the top of the first. Nichol started things off with a leadoff home run and three batters later Augustana went ahead 2-0 when Trautmann drove in Kennedy who doubled with one out. With two outs in the first, Merriam drove in two more with a single to center field that put the Vikings up 4-0.
 
After a quick bottom of the first, Trautmann drilled a two-out two-run home run over the wall in center field to drive in Kennedy and give the Vikings a 6-0 lead. Kennedy started the inning with a two-out double to set the table for Trautmann.
 
Augustana went on to score three runs on five hits in the fourth and four runs on four hits in the fifth to extend the lead to 13-0.
 
Tratumann drove in two more runs in the fourth with a two-RBI single and Maggie Kadrlik came up with a two-out RBI single in the fifth that scored the 12th and 13th runs of the game.
 
Augustana will continue action on the road on Tuesday, April 14, taking on Southwest Minnesota State in a doubleheader at 2 p.m. in Marshall, Minn.