MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Augustana freshman Norah Christiansen knocked a go-ahead two-run homer to seal the 4-2 Viking victory against Southern Arkansas on Friday afternoon at the NCAA Central Region Tournament…and it only took 12 innings of action to do it.
 
AU will await the result of game five in Central Region 2, facing the winner between No. 2 seed SAU and No. 6 seed Missouri Southern State at 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon in the championship game.
 
Augustana tallied just six hits against the Muleriders compared to the opponent's 14, led by two from Liz Dierks while Desi Cuevas, Ella Cooper, Christiansen and Sidney Smart each added in one apiece.
 
Christiansen tallied two RBI and scored two runs in the affair while combining with Cuevas for the two walks drawn and two homeruns. Additionally, Ashton Dorman and Cooper registered 11 and 10 putouts, respectively.
 
In the circle, Grace Glanzer earned the win to improve to 25-6 this season. She allowed just two runs over her 12 innings of work and struck out 11 batters combined with 9 fly outs and 16 groundouts.
 
Augustana was first to strike in the heavyweight battle, as Christiansen drew a walk in the bottom of the second inning to bring Smart up to bat. She singled to center field and soon advanced all the way to third off a fielding error that would bring the runner home for the opening 1-0 lead.
 
The Muleriders quickly responded, knocking three hits for two runs in the top of the third to take the lead.
 
As the Vikings fought to keep themselves in the game, Glanzer got hot in the circle. She faced a loaded-bases situation and successfully ended the top of the sixth inning with back-to-back lethal swinging strikeouts.
 
It took until the bottom half of that inning for either team to score again. And it was done so in quite dominating fashion. Cuevas was the first batter up and she soon sent a skyrocketing missile of a shot over the left field fence…and further over the nearby out-of-park signage at Dawson Field.
 
Her solo homerun would tie the game up for the Vikings at 2-2 with the seventh inning looming, but it would take much longer for the game to officially close.
 
Glanzer again fended off loaded bases with a stifling performance and would continue to hold it down as the two teams locked into a back-and-forth pitching battle.
 
The Muleriders would leave a combined seven runners on base through the five innings worth of extra softball action and neither team was able to circle through more than four batters an inning.
 
Until the bottom of the 12th.
 
Cooper bunted to third base and successfully made it to second off a throwing error. Another bunt advanced her to third and brought Christiansen up to bat. Facing one out, the freshman rocketed a shot to right center on the second pitch, walking off the 12-inning and nearly three-hour marathon with a two-run homer to seal the win.