MARSHALL, Minn. -- Squaring up in their first conference road trip of the season, the No. 14 Augustana softball team swept Southwest Minnesota State on Tuesday afternoon. The Vikings opened Tuesday with a 7-1 win in game one and closed the day with an identical 7-1 win in game two.

Augustana pushes their win streak to nine games and improves to 28-5 (8-0 NSIC). Southwest Minnesota State sees their six-game win snapped and moves to 11-9 (6-2 NSIC).

Moments that mattered:

• Ashley Mickschl tossed her league-leading 11th complete game, twirling seven strong innings with seven strikeouts. Mickschl allowed just one run on the way her NSIC-best 13th win. 
• In game one, Samantha Eisenreich and Kara McDougall provided the offense. Both student-athletes finished 3-3 and drove two RBI.
• Maggie Kadrlik hit a two-run home run and leads the team with 33 RBI
• Mary Pardo had a career performance in game two. The freshman broke the single-game school record with two triples. She finished 4-4 with three RBI.
• Kara McDougall and Shannon Petersen both had RBI in game two.
• Amber Elliott started in game two, but Olivia Wolters pitched the final five innings for the win.

Game one
Ashley Mickschl took the circle in game one and was solid from the start. Mickschl allowed zero runs through the first three innings and went on to pick up her league-leading 11th complete game. Mickschl also leads the NSIC with 13 wins this season.

The Vikings started the scoring in the fourth frame. Following a Shannon Petersen double, and a Delaney Young single, Samantha Eisenreich kept rolling with a two-run double. Eisenreich now has 11 RBI in the last six games. 

Moments later, Kara McDougall connected for an inside-the-park home run, marking her first round-tripper of the season. After four innings, Vikings led 4-0.

Mickschl helped her own cause with a bunt single in the seventh, and then Maggie Kadrlik put the game on ice with a two-run home run. Kadrlik leads the Vikings with 33 RBI this season. 

Game two

SMSU scored an early run in the top of the first, but the story of game two was the career performance from freshman Mary Pardo. Starting in the third, she drove in McDougal with an RBI single to center.

With the game tied at 1-1 in the 5th, Pardo tripled down the left field line, bringing in a pair of runs and making it a 3-1 game. Mickshl added in an RBI groundout, and after five innings it was a 4-1 game.

Pardo would add in two more hits, including a program-record second triple, as she finished 4-4 with 3 RBI. McDougall and Petersen both added RBI as well, but it was Maggie Dunnett RBI triple in the 7th that tied a Viking school record for most triples in a game with three. 

Amber Elliott started in game two, but Olivia Wolters pitched the final five innings for the win. Wolters finished with 0 hits and three strikeouts in the final five frames.

Augustana returns home this week but will continue their six-game road trip this weekend. The Vikings first visit Minnesota State on Saturday for a doubleheader (1 p.m. start), and close the weekend at Concordia St. Paul for a pair of games (12 p.m. start).