SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Augustana softball team is making its fifth-straight appearance in the NCAA postseason as it begins action at the NCAA Regional on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. The No. 3 seed and No. 9 nationally-ranked Vikings will face the No. 6 seed Golden Suns of Arkansas Tech in Edmond, Oklahoma.
 
Live video and live stats can be found at GoAugie.com/Live or on the GoAugie App presented by CellOnly.
 
Augustana will be playing in a pod that also features No. 2 seed Central Oklahoma and No. 5 seed Southern Arkansas. The four teams will battle over Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
 
About the Vikings
Augustana is rolling after having swept the NSIC regular season and tournament championships. The Vikings enter the central regional with a 47-8 overall record and have won 28 of their last 29 games.
 
Much of that has to do with the nation's second-best batting average at .372 while leading all of NCAA Division II with 569 hits. In addition, Augustana leads DII with 8.18 runs per game.          
 
Individually, Gracey Brink leads the team with a .448 batting average, racking up 60 hits in 134 at-bats. The entire starting nine for AU owns a .333 or better average, leading to the team average of .372.
 
More on the home runs later, but five Vikings have hit 10 or more home runs this season, led by the national-leader Mary Pardo with 26.
 
In the circle, the Vikings own a team 1.89 ERA as Ashley Mickschl has continued in her All-America form with a 21-2 record and 1.24 ERA. Amber Elliott is 19-3 on the season with 140 strikeouts in 121.1 innings pitched.
 
About the Golden Suns
Arkansas Tech enters the regional with a 39-17 overall record and claimed both the GAC regular season and tournament championships. The GAC record for the Golden Suns was a 26-7 mark.
 
Tymber Ryley, a Top-25 honoree for the NFCA National Player of the Year, leads ATU with a .443 average, 16 home runs and 54 RBI. She is joined in the .400s by Caitlyn Wells who has a .402 average and 11 home runs.
 
Shannon Lasey owns the most pitching wins with an 18-7 record and a 1.28 ERA. The second-most appearances, and wins, belongs to Bailey Buffington and her 13-6 record with a 2.31 ERA.
 
About the Bronchos
Central Oklahoma is 45-10 in 2022 and placed second in the MIAA with a 23-3 record. Central Oklahoma fell in the championship of the MIAA Tournament to Missouri Western.
 
The central region host Bronchos are led by Jacee Minter with her .422 average and 12 home runs. She owns a team-high 1.281 OPS.
 
In the circle, Kylee Lynch is 24-3 in 36 appearances with a 1.87 ERA. Isie Cox has started 15 games for UCO and has rallied a 10-4 record with a 3.52 ERA.
 
About the Muleriders
Southern Arkansas joined Arkansas Tech as the GAC regular season champion while owning an overall 37-16 record. The Muleriders bowed out of the GAC Tournament with a 7-4 loss to ATU.
 
Jade Miller leads the team with a .410 batting average while cranking a team-best 11 home runs. She has also swatted 11 doubles and a pair of triples as part of her 77 hits in 2022.
 
In the circle, Iana Pogroszewski owns the top ERA at 1.78 while pitching to a 15-6 record. Sydney Ward is 16-3 with a 2.30 ERA while striking out 141 batters in 133.2 innings.
 
One Last Thing
Augustana has cracked 92 home runs in 2022, two shy of the single-season record of 94 set in 2019. The difference? The 2019 team played 72 games to achieve that total. In 2022, Augustana has played in 55 games thus far. Twenty-six of those have come from the bat of Mary Pardo who has re-written the record book by at least three home runs for the most in a single season.
 
Up Next
The Vikings are playing in the NCAA Central Region Pod No. 2 while Rogers State is hosting Pod No. 1 with Washburn, Winona State and Minnesota State all partaking. The winner of each pod will contest in a best-of-three series for the right to go to the NCAA Championship site in Denver, Colorado.