AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The No. 8 Augustana softball team picked up a pair of wins on Thursday as part of The Spring Games in the Orlando, Florida, area. The Vikings topped Bloomfield 12-3 in the first game of the day and followed with a dramatic 3-2 win over Southern New Hampshire.
 
Augustana improves to 9-4 on the season while Bloomfield falls to 1-6 and Southern New Hampshire 9-4.
 
Liz Dierks led Augustana with five hits on the day while Amanda Dickmeyer totaled four hits between the two games.
 
Game One: No. 8 Augustana 12, Bloomfield 3
It was the offensive outburst the Vikings were looking for with three home runs and 12 total runs scored. Mary Pardo, the Vikings' leadoff hitter, sent a home run over the left-field fence.
 
Two batters later, Torri Chute sent a home run over the left-field fence for a 2-0 lead.
 
After Augustana was granted an extra at-bat when Abby Lien reached first base on a dropped third strike, Kennedy Buckman walked to put two runners on base for Gracey Brink. Augustana's catcher then hit a home run over the right-field fence for an early 5-0 lead.
 
Bloomfield pushed two runs across the plate in the bottom of the first to make it 5-2, a score that held until the fourth inning. Liz Dierks singled in Abbie Lund to make it 6-2. Mary Pardo, who reached base on a bunt single, then scored on a wild pitch.
 
The inning concluded with AU leading 8-2 thanks to an RBI fielder's choice with Kennedy Buckman batting.
 
Bloomfield added its final run of the game in the bottom of the fourth while the Vikings' offense continued to add on runs. A ninth run came on an RBI single from Dierks, sending Amanda Dickmeyer home. A 10^th run was pushed across the plate in the sixth inning on a Dickmeyer single.
 
The final two runs came in the top of the seventh as Dierks singled to short, scoring Lund. The next batter was Delaney Young, and she hit a sacrifice fly to score Mary Pardo.
 
Game Two: No. 8 Augustana 3, Southern New Hampshire 2
In what could be defined as the most exciting game of 2022, the Vikings walked-off the Penmen on an Abby Lien double into left field. The game started with Southern New Hampshire scoring two runs in the opening frame.
 
From there, it was a defensive battle until that seventh inning. Amber Elliott started the game for AU, pitched six innings, giving up seven hits. Her counterpart, Chloe Griffin, pitched all seven innings for SNHU, giving up five hits, but three of those hits came in the seventh inning.
 
After Olivia Hazelbaker relieved Elliott, she faced four batters, getting a flyout and two groundouts sprinkled around a single to set the stage in the bottom of the seventh.
 
Amanda Dickmeyer led the inning off with a single down the left-field line. Mary Pardo reached base on a fielder's choice as AU took advantage of an error by SNHU, keeping Dickmeyer on second base. Liz Dierks then singled to second base and beat out the throw, advancing AU to a bases-loaded situation.
 
Torri Chute worked a walk to force in the Vikings' first run of the game. Lien then hit her double into left field which scored Pardo and Dierks to give AU the victory.
 
Dierks recorded two of the five hits for AU while the other three came from Chute, Lien and Dickmeyer.
 
Up Next
Augustana takes Friday off and returns to action Saturday with No. 7 Grand Valley State at 9:15 a.m. (CST) and Post at 11:45 a.m. (CST).
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