SAINT PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus softball team earned its second consecutive MIAC sweep over Augsburg, totaling 26 runs on 28 hits on Saturday, April 12. The Gusties (16-10, 6-2 MIAC) won 11-3 in five innings in game one, before earning a 15-9 win in a high-scoring game two.
Gustavus 11, Augsburg 3 (5 inn.)
The Gusties run-ruled Augsburg (eight or more by the fifth inning) in game one, scoring 11 on 13 hits, led by the performance of
Caitlin Olafsson (Jr., Woodbury, Minn.), who went 2-for-3 at the plate with a pair of runs and three RBI. Four other Gusties totaled a hit in the win.
Gustavus took a 1-0 lead in the first inning thanks to one of four doubles in game one, as
Carly Olson (So., Luverne, Minn.) drove in a run. Augsburg tied the game 1-1 on a solo shot in the third, but the Gusties quickly took over with a three-run third, two in the fourth, and five in the fifth.
Olafsson drilled a two-out triple down the right field line to score two, while
Paige Gritzmaker (Fy., Woodbury, Minn.) brought Olafsson home in the next at-bat with a single to right for a 4-1 advantage. The Gusties added their fifth and sixth runs with two outs down in the fourth, and capitalized on a wild pitch and an Augsburg error in the frame.
Olson led off with a double to left, followed by Olafsson's second double of the game up the middle to score her teammate and begin an onslaught of runs and end the game early.
Katelyn Kasper (Jr., Corcoran, Minn.) pinch-hit an RBI single to extend the lead to 10-3, while a fielder's choice RBI scored
Breck Carlson (So., North Mankato, Minn.) for the deciding run.
Ava Hamsund (So., Winona, Minn.) picked up the win in the circle, her seventh of the season, pitching all five innings, allowing three earned runs off seven hits. She struck out three and allowed just two free passes (a walk and a wild pitch).
Gustavus 15, Augsburg 9
Augsburg's Lola Pilon went 2-for-2 at the plate with a pair of home runs, two walks, two runs, and five RBI to drive the Auggie offense, but a total of 15 hits from the Gusties, including three each from
Lauren Lambert (Jr., Woodbury, Minn.), Olson, and Carlson, was too much for for the two Augsburg pitchers to handle.
The Gusties tied Pilon's two-run shot in the bottom of the first with a pair of RBI hits, one a double off the bat of
Greta Dahlen (Sr., West Des Moines, Iowa), and the other an RBI single from Olson.
A seven-run second inning put the game nearly out of reach, as the Gusties batted through the line-up with five hits and seven runs. After a quick out in at-bat one of the inning, the Auggies allowed five free passes and four extra-base hits.
Macy McNally (So., Winona, Minn.), Lambert, Olson, and Carlson each doubled to build the lead to 9-2 at the end of the inning.
The Auggies (12-14, 3-5 MIAC) scored six in their next two frames, forcing a pair of pitching changes from the Gusties. With bases loaded in the top of the fourth, and the score 9-8 in favor of the Gusties, first-year
Hailey Petzel (Mankato, Minn.) got the Gusties out of a bases-loaded jam with a swinging strikeout to preserve the lead.
Auggie errors and free passes, as well as a trio of hits, scored three additional runs in the bottom of the fourth, while the team tacked on three more in the following inning with two outs down.
Augsburg scored one in the top of the sixth, but it was too little too late, as Carlson finished the game with a double play at second.
Anderson pitched three innings, allowing five runs off three hits. She struck out three and walked two.
Megan Sherwood (So., Greenfield, Minn.) allowed three runs, one earned, on two hits, while Petzel allowed just one run off three hits in 3.1 innings of work.
Carlson was 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI, Olson was 3-for-4 with a run and three RBI, while Lambert was 3-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored. Dahlen and McNally each had a pair of hits to the team's total 15.
The Gusties conclude their busy week at Bethel (10-12, 4-3 MIAC) tomorrow afternoon, April 13, for a 1 and 3 p.m. doubleheader in Arden Hills.
