SIOUX FALLS – The Augustana softball team played at home for the first time this season on Thursday, and walked away with a pair of wins, topping Concordia-St. Paul 7-6 in the opener and 4-1 in the nightcap.

The wins give the Vikings a 22-6 overall record, and keeps them undefeated in NSIC play at 4-0, while the Golden Bears fall to 15-11 overall and to 0-4 in conference play.

The Vikings jumped out to the early lead with four runs on four hits in the first inning of the day, getting an RBI double from Shannon Petersen, an RBI single from Ashley Mickschl, one unearned run and one more in a wild pitch to take an early 4-0 lead.

That lead held up until the top of the third, when the Golden Bears rallied for five runs to take a short-lived 5-4 lead, as Taylor Bross drew a bases loaded walk in the bottom of the frame, which tied the game at 5-5.

A Maggie Kadrlik RBI double in the fourth put the Vikings up 6-5, and then they got a much-needed insurance run in the sixth on a Kaylea Schorr RBI single for a 7-5 Vikings lead.

The Golden Bears threatened in the top of the seventh, and although they did plate one run to cut the lead to 7-6, the inning, and thus the game, ended with the bases loaded.

Mickschl earned the complete-game win in the opener to improve to 8-3. She gave up six runs, two earned, on 13 hits, with eight strikeouts and three walks.

The second game of the day stayed scoreless into the bottom of the fourth, when the Vikings finally broke through on a Mickschl double that scored Schorr for a 1-0 lead. Samantha Eisenreich blasted the day's only home run in the next at bat to give Augustana a 3-0 lead after four complete innings.

Concordia-St. Paul plated one run in the sixth to cut the lead to 3-1, but Olivia Wolters came in to end the threat, and the Vikings got that one run back in the bottom of the inning on an Eisenreich RBI single for the game's final run.

Lexy Pederson pitched the first 5.1 innings to earn the win, which keeps her undefeated in the circle this season at 8-0. She gave up on run on seven hits with no walks and four strikeouts before giving way to Wolters, who picked up the save, her first of the season.

The Vikings look to keep the wins coming on Friday, when they host No. 13, and defending national champion Minnesota State at Bowden Field in a doubleheader that begins at noon.