DULUTH, Minn. – The No. 13 ranked Augustana softball team secured the No. 2 seed in next week's NSIC Tournament by sweeping Minnesota Duluth on Sunday in Duluth, Minn., beating the Bulldogs 4-1 in the opener, and 5-1 in the nightcap.
 
The Vikings close the regular season with a 37-11 overall record, and end NSIC play with a 19-5 mark, while the Bulldogs end the season at 38-11 overall and 20-6 in conference play. Winona State earned the top seed in the NSIC Tournament with a 20-2 conference record to go with a 41-5 overall record.
 
The hosts struck first in the first to take the early 1-0 lead, but it didn't last long, as Maggie Kadrlik started the Vikings half of the second with a single to right, advanced to second on a Christina Pickett sacrifice bunt, and then scored two batters later on a Maggie Dunnett RBI single down the left field line to tie the game at 1-1.
 
Still 1-1 in the third, Augustana took the lead for good when Kylie Rome delivered with her third home run of the season, a two-run shot that put the Vikings up 3-1.
 
Augustana manufactured an insurance run in the sixth, which started with a Dunnett infield single, followed by a Samantha Eisenreich sacrifice bunt that advanced Dunnett to second. Schorr followed with an RBI double to center field that scored Dunnett for a 4-1 Vikings lead.
 
Ashley Mickschl took care of the rest and settled in after allowing the early run. She scattered five hits in the complete game win, with no walks and eight strikeouts to improve to 16-5 on the season.
 
The Vikings scored all the runs they would need in Game 2 in the first inning on a Shannon Petersen RBI double and a two-run home run off the bat of Kadrlik to that staked Augie to a 3-0 lead.
 
The Bulldogs broke through with a single run in the fifth to cut the lead to 3-1, but the Vikings struck back with two in the top of the seventh, getting a solo homer from Petersen and an RBI single from Morgan Beaner to salt away the 5-1, regular season-ending win.
 
Lexy Pederson got the start and struck out three in a perfect three innings before giving way to Olivia Wolters, who earned the win to improve to 6-2 on the season. She allowed one run on two hits, with one walk and a pair of strikeouts. Mickschl did not allow a hit and walked one over the final two innings to earn her second save of the season.
 
The Vikings now await the results of the rest of the games to find out their opponent in the NSIC Tournament, which begins on Thursday in Sioux Falls at both Bowden Field and Sherman Park.