SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The No. 1 ranked Augustana softball team swept No. 20 Minnesota State Sunday afternoon in a pair of NSIC contests. The Vikings took game one 3-1 then had an offensive outburst of a 9-3 game two victory.
 
The Vikings all but assure themselves another week as the No. 1 ranked team in the nation with the 21-3 overall record while sitting in first place of the NSIC with a 9-1 mark. Minnesota State, who entered the weekend ranked 20^th in the country, falls to 17-6 overall and 6-4 in conference action.
 
Among the highlights from the day, Amanda Dickmeyer crushed her first career home run while Kendall Cornick went 4-for-6 for the day with four runs scored.
 
Game One: No. 1 Augustana 3, No. 20 Minnesota State 1
The game lived up to its billing with two of the top pitchers in the NSIC dueling in the Vikings' 3-1 win.
 
After the first two innings were completed in efficient manners, the Mavericks strung together just enough hits to push a run across the plate for a 1-0 lead in the third inning.
 
In the fourth, the Mavericks were again threatening but a slick-fielding play from shortstop Amanda Dickmeyer took the grounder from the bat of Hannah Hastings and threw home where Gracey Brink tagged Torey Richards out.
 
The Vikings' offense fed off the momentum of the tag-out in the bottom of the fourth as Abby Lien sent a rocket over the left-center field fence to knot the game at 1-1.
 
Brink then did her own damage, hitting her first home run of the season over the center-field wall giving Augustana a 2-1 lead.
 
The Vikings tacked on one more run in the fifth inning as Kendall Cornick scored on a single from Torri Chute.
 
Ashley Mickschl took care of the rest in the circle allowing just one more base runner the remainder of the game. In fact, Mickschl gave up just six hits and struck out three to pick up her 10^th win of the season.
 
The Vikings tallied six hits themselves, all from six different hitters. Lien's home run was her fifth of the year.
 
Minnesota State's Mackenzie Ward entered the weekend ranking fourth in the nation in total strikeouts but the Viking offense did not allow her to pitch her game as she struck out just four, a season-low for her in a start.
 
Game Two: No. 1 Augustana 9, No. 20 Minnesota State 3
After the Mavericks jumped on the scoreboard in the opening frame with three runs, Augustana got two back in the bottom of the first before tacking on three more in the second.
 
The Vikings made it 3-1 when Kendall Cornick, who reached base on a single and stole second, scored on a Torri Chute double. The next hitter, Abby Lien, then scored Chute with a double of her own.
 
In the second, the Vikings scored their three runs on three hits starting with a double from Cornick that scored Amanda Dickmeyer. Just like the first inning, Augustana used the momentum and the next hitter, Gracey Brink, singled into right center and scored Kennedy Buckman and Cornick for the 5-3 lead.
 
Dickmeyer's first-career home run gave Augustana a commanding 8-3 lead in the fifth innning. She knocked the ball over the left-center field fence scoring Becca Koupal and Bergen Lindner.
 
The final run of the day came off the bat of Gracey Brink as she doubled in Cornick for the 9-3 final score.
 
Amber Elliott moved to 11-1 on the season in the circle, giving up the three runs on seven hits while striking out eight.
 
In the batter's box, Cornick ended the game 3-for-3 with three runs scored and an RBI. Brink was 2-for-4 with three RBI while Dickmeyer was 2-for-3 with three RBI. In all, Augustana tallied 12 hits.
 
Up Next
Augustana hosts Southwest Minnesota State on Tuesday with a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m. The contests are the postponed date from last week when the doubleheader got wiped out due to wet weather in Sioux Falls.