MOORHEAD, Minn. – Sarah Kennedy went 7 for 8 at the plate with three doubles and a home run to help Augustana University softball to a sweep over MSU Moorhead (8-27, 3-15 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon. The Vikings won the opener 7-2 before taking game two 6-1.
 
With the sweep, Augustana has now won nine straight games to improve to 30-10 on the season, including 15-3 in NSIC play. Augustana has now won 30 or more games in nine straight seasons under the direction of 11th-year head coach Gretta Melsted.
 
Game one
Augustana combined for seven runs in the second and third innings earning a 7-2 win over MSU Moorhead in the opening game of Saturday's doubleheader. The Vikings out-slugged the Dragons with 13 hits, including doubles three extra-base hits.
 
Sarah Kennedy led the Vikings at the plate going 4 for 4 with a walk and an RBI. Abby Chandler picked up a pair of hits for Augustana to finish the day 2 for 4 with a run scored. Kaylea Schorr hit her eighth double of the season finishing game one 3 for 5 with an RBI and a run scored. 
 
Lexy Pederson won her 15th game of the season in the circle striking out seven allowing just one earned run.
 
MSU Moorhead took a 1-0 lead after a three-hit bottom of the first inning but the Vikings responded with four runs on five hits in the top of the second to take a 4-1 lead.
 
Samantha Eisenreich, who finished the game 1 for 3 with three RBI, doubled in a pair of runs to start the scoring for the Vikings in the second. Schorr followed with an RBI double to put the Vikings up 3-1 before Kennedy singled to left center, driving in another run and putting Augustana in front 4-1.
 
Augustana added three runs on three hits in the top of the third to extend its lead to 7-1. The Vikings left the bases loaded in the inning but not before pushing across three runs to extend their lead to six.
 
MSU Moorhead made it 7-2 plating an unearned run in the bottom of the third and put together a pair of threats loading the bases in the fifth and seventh innings, but Pederson didn't allow any further damage and the Vikings picked up their eighth straight win.
 
Game two
Sarah Kennedy went 3 for 4 with two doubles and a home run to lead Augustana to a 6-1 win over the Dragons in game two. Augustana finished game two with 11 hits as Kaylea Schorr, Kylie Rome and Kara McDougall each picked up two hits.
 
Olivia Wolters (13-5) went the distance for the Vikings in the circle striking out five batters while holding the Dragons to one run on six hits.
 
Kennedy gave the Vikings a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning with her 13th home run of the season. The Dragons answered in the home half of the first to tie the game at one getting a one-out RBI double from Madison Paige, knotting the game at 1-1.
 
The Vikings responded with three runs on four hits in the top of the second to take a 4-1 lead. McDougall drove in the first run of the inning with an infield single to short. Augustana pushed two more runs across on MSUM errors.
 
Kennedy drove in Augustana's next two runs with a pair of RBI doubles to give her 22 on the season which leads the NSIC and is just three shy of her own single season record of 25 which she set as a sophomore in 2015. Kennedy delivered a two-out RBI double in the top of the fourth and another with one out in the sixth to give Augustana five-run cushion at 6-1.
 
MSUM put two runners on in the third and fifth innings but Wolters kept the Dragons in check, including striking out two batters in the bottom of the seventh.
 
Augustana returns home on Tuesday, April 18, for a crucial match-up with Winona State. First pitch between the Vikings and Warriors is set for 3 p.m. at Bowden Field.