AUBURNDALE, Fla. – It was another sweep for the Augustana softball team on Friday as the Vikings topped Walsh and Saginaw Valley State. The Vikings, facing the Cavaliers for the first time, topped Walsh 15-4. Against the Cardinals of SVSU, AU prevailed 6-3.
 
The Vikings are 11-4 on the season after the wins while Walsh is 2-7 and Saginaw Valley State is 9-5.
 
Mary Pardo hit .667 over the two games including matching a school record with a 5-for-5 game against Walsh. Abby Lien also matched the same school record with five hits in a game. Delaney Young also had a strong day at the plate, going 5-for-8 for a .625 average.
 
Game One: No. 8 Augustana 15, Walsh 4
Mary Pardo and Abby Lien each tied a school record with five hits in the game as the duo went 5-for-5 in the contest. They matched Kristi Villar, who did it twice in 2006, Theresa McMahon (2013) and Elizabeth Murray (2012) in the feat.
 
Augustana got on the board with two runs in the first two innings but fell behind 4-2 in the third. That got Mary Pardo fired up as she hit a home run into left field in the top of the fourth, which then sparked an eight-run fifth inning.
 
Augustana, trailing 4-3, plated eight runs in the fifth to leave leading 11-4. Gracey Brink, Taylor Bross, Pardo, Delaney Young, Torri Chute and Lien all earned RBI in the inning. Brink, Young and Chute all doubled while Bross, Pardo and Lien all singled.
 
After scoring eight runs without a home run in the fifth, the sixth inning saw AU hit a pair of four-base hits to earn the run-rule victory. Young sent a home run over the right-center field fence while Lien did the same just a couple of batters later.
 
In all, Augustana racked up 20 hits in the game with 10 coming from Pardo and Lien. Pardo scored four runs and tallied three RBI while Lien had four RBI.
 
In the circle, Makayla Williams earned the victory after pitching three innings. Hailey Houston started the game, tossing three innings and striking out two.
 
 
Game Two: No 8 Augustana 6, Saginaw Valley State 3
The Vikings controlled from start-to-finish in the win over the Cardinals, including a first-inning home run from Torri Chute to take a 2-0 lead. Delaney Young was on base thanks to a single up the middle.
 
The score moved to 3-0 on a sacrifice fly from Amanda Dickmeyer in the second inning to score Kennedy Buckman from third. One batter later, AU took advantage of an SVSU error to score Brink from second base.
 
With the bases loaded, Young singled into left field to score Mary Pardo and Abbie Lund for a 6-0 advantage.
 
Although Saginaw Valley State plated runs in the third, fifth and seventh innings, the damage had already been done for Augustana to win its fourth-straight game.
 
Ashley Mickschl pitched five innings for Augustana to earn the victory in the circle, striking out two. She gave up just four hits in her outing.
 
Of the Vikings' seven hits, Young had two of them while the other five came from the bats of Pardo, Liz Dierks, Chute, Kennedy Buckman and Lund.
 
Up Next
It's a top-10 showdown on Saturday as the Vikings face No. 7 Grand Valley State at 9:15 a.m. (CST). Following that contest, Augustana faces Post, all part of The Spring Games in Florida.
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