Bulldogs denied by Vikings in NSIC softball championship game
May 4—SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Augustana showed how they cruised through the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference with only one loss on Saturday, rolling to a 9-0 victory over Minnesota Duluth in the conference tournament championship game.
The Bulldogs kept the game scoreless until leaking one run in the fourth and two in the fifth before the floodgates opened in a six-run sixth inning that triggered the run rule.
Offensively, the Bulldogs did something neither of Augie's first two tournament opponents did: a hit. Morgan McMillan led off the game with a single, Elle Potts led off the second inning with a single and Julia Gronholz tripled down the left-field line in the third. None of those led to runs against Augustana pitcher Grace Glanzer, who struck out nine and walked one while completing a three-game tournament run without being scored upon.
Lauren Dixon struck out five. Augustana got to her in the later innings with three home runs, two of them by Kennedy Buckman, who had five RBIs.
The Bulldogs, who were not a candidate for NCAA tournament consideration, finish 2024 with a record of 41-15.
Wisconsin-Superior recovered from coughing up an early 7-1 lead to beat Bethany Lutheran 9-8 in nine innings as the teams concluded the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference regular season with a doubleheader on Saturday in Mankato.
BLC took game two 8-0 but the damage was done, as the doubleheader split knocked BLC down to co-champions with Minnesota Morris, which will host the rematch between the second-seeded Vikings and third-seeded Yellowjackets on Thursday in the opening round of the UMAC tournament.
UWS scored four times in the second inning and three in the third to take a 7-1 lead. Indigo Fish and Norah Schmitz homered in the third inning.
The Vikings pulled to within 7-6 after five innings, and despite a UWS insurance run, they tied the game on Ana Christofferson's two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh.
In the ninth, Zoe Thomson's single up the middle scored Larissa Snyder for the go-ahead run, and reliever Samantha Swartz worked around a leadoff walk to retire the Vikings.
Ellie Macal was 3-for-5 to lead the UWS offense, while four players had two hits apiece.
In game two, a Macal double to lead off the second inning was UWS's only hit in five innings, while BLC took control early with a five-run first inning.
Swartz took the loss.
UWS finishes the regular season 22-12 (11-5 UMAC).
