SIOUX FALLS - The No. 13 ranked Augustana Softball team split with crosstown rival Sioux Falls on Wednesday at Sherman Park, falling 4-3 in the opener, before bouncing back with a 6-2 win in the nightcap.
 
With the split, the Vikings end the day with a 34-10 overall record and a 16-4 mark in the NSIC, while the Cougars move to 26-17 overall and 13-8 in conference play.
 
Down 3-0 into the fourth inning, the Vikings capitalized on a pair of Sioux Falls miscues to score two runs. Kaylea Schorr, who reached on a wild pitch after striking out, stole second and then scored on an error to cut the lead to 3-1, while Ashley Mickschl scored on another error to make it 3-2 Cougars.
 
The Vikings tied the game at 3-3 in the fifth on a Mickschl RBI single that scored Samantha Eisenreich, who pinch ran for Kylie Rome, who opened the inning with a single, but neither team scored again until the seventh, when the Cougars knocked in the winning run to secure the 4-3 walk-off win.
 
Augustana struck first in Game 2, as Kendall Cornick started the game with a bunt single, and then advanced to second on an Abbie Lund sacrifice bunt. That brought up Rome, who doubled home Cornick for a 1-0 Vikings lead.
 
After a Shannon Petersen walk and Maggie Kadrlik reached on a hit by pitch, Schorr delivered with an infield single to score Rome for a 2-0 lead.
 
Still 2-0 Vikings in the fourth, Schorr opened the inning with a double to left center, and then scored two batters later on a Morgan Beaner RBI single to boost the lead to 3-0.
 
The Cougars fired back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth to cut the lead to 3-2, but the Vikings broke the game open in the seventh with a Petersen RBI single to make it 4-2 and a Mickschl two-RBI double to make it 6-2 Vikings.
 
Lexy Pederson earned the win in the circle to improve to 12-2 on the season. She surrendered two runs, one earned, on five hits, with a pair of walks and seven strikeouts. Olivia Wolters closed the game with a one-hit seventh to lock down the win.
 
Augustana closes the regular season this weekend, at St. Cloud State on Saturday at 1 p.m., and then at Minnesota Duluth on Sunday at noon.