Wayne State 7 Augustana 6
Wayne State 9 Augustana 1
The Wayne State College softball team swept Augustana College in a doubleheader played Wednesday afternoon in Wayne. The 'Cats won game one by the score of 7-6 and then defeated the Vikings by the score of 9-1 in six innings in game two. Wayne State moves to 10-11 on the season with the wins while Augustana drops to 9-7 with the losses.
In the first game, Wayne State scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to rally for the 7-6 win. Wayne State grabbed an early lead in the first inning on a Jennifer Radley RBI double. After a leadoff homer by Augustana's Allie Hubers tied the game in the top of the second inning, Alaina Novotny homered in the bottom of the second inning to give WSC a 2-1 lead. A sacrifice fly off the bat of Blaire Kuhl in the third inning boosted the Wayne State lead to 3-1. Augustana then responded to score three runs in the fourth inning to regain the lead for the Vikings at 4-3. WSC came right back to tie the game at 4 in the fifth inning with a solo homer off the bat of Jennifer Radley. Augustana's Amber Bollman hit a two run homer in the top of the sixth inning to give the Vikings a 6-4 lead. WSC responded with a run in the bottom of the sixth inning with a solo homer by Hannah Engelkamp which cut the Augustana lead to one at 6-5. The score stayed the same until the bottom of the seventh. Samantha Earleywine led off the Wayne State seventh with a double. Amber Baird entered the game as a pinch runner. After an infield single from Amy Sandstrom, Blaire Kuhl smacked a double to left field scoring both Baird and Sandstrom to give the 'Cats the 7-6 victory. Kuhl drove in three runs on the day to lead the WSC offense. Jennifer Radley drove in two runs while Hannah Engelkamp and Alaina Novotny drove in one run apiece for Wayne State. Kiley Peterson earned the win on the mound for WSC and is now 3-2 on the season. She gave up six runs on six hits with five walks and five strikeouts on the day.
Wayne State jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning and cruised to the easy 9-1 win in game two. The 'Cats hit three home runs and pounded out 13 hits in the game. Amy Sandstrom hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning, and Blaire Kuhl and Jennifer Radley hit back-to-back homers for Wayne State in the sixth inning. Samantha Earleywine and Sandstrom each had two RBI's to lead the Wayne State offense. Amber Baird went 3 for 4 with an RBI, and Valerie Robinson also drove in a run for the 'Cats in game two. Katie Goetzinger pitched all six innings for Wayne State to earn the win. Goetzinger is now 7-6 on the season. She gave up one run on eight hits with two walks and three strikeouts on the day.
Wayne State will participate in the UNO tournament this Saturday and Sunday. The next home games for the 'Cats will be on April 2nd when they host UNK in a doubleheader starting at 2:00 p.m. here in Wayne.
