ROCHESTER, Minn. – It was a dramatic walk-off for the Augustana softball team on the opening day of the NSIC Tournament.
Abby Lien hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift the Vikings to an 8-7 victory.
Augustana, the No. 1 seed, advances to face St. Cloud State with a noon first pitch.
Lien's dramatics were made after the Vikings trailed by as much as 7-3 in the fifth inning. The Vikings recorded their first run of the game in the second inning as
Delaney Young crossed home plate on a productive groundout by
Kennedy Buckman.
The second run of the game came courtesy of AU's aggressive nature on the base paths as
Gracey Brink hit a single in the third inning and took off for second base on the throw towards home plate. When the catcher tossed back to second base in an attempt to tag Brink,
Andrea Cain took off from third base to score while Brink then advanced to third base on a throwing error.
Later in the inning, Lien hit a sacrifice fly to score Brink for a 4-3 score.
Concordia-St. Paul, trying to brew an upset, then pushed its lead to four runs at 7-3 but AU fought back with a pair of runs in the fifth, one in the sixth and the walk-off in the seventh.
Torri Chute smacked a single up the middle to score Cain in the fifth. That was followed by a single by Young through the right side to score Lien.
Ashton Dorman homered in the sixth inning for the 7-6 score. After the Golden Bears went down in the top of the seventh, it was time for the fireworks.
Andrea Cain worked a five-pitch walk. Two batters later, Lien took a 2-0 pitch over the right-center field fence for the victory at 8-7.
Augustana recorded seven hits with Dorman accounting for two. Lien led the way with three RBI and two runs scored.
Coverage of the remainder of the tournament can be found at GoAugie.com/Live while @AugieSoftball on social media will have matchup information as it becomes available.
--GoAugie.com--
