BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- The Augustana Vikings softball team defeated the Millikin Big Blue in the second game of the CCIW Tournament by a score of 9-3.
After two scoreless innings, Augustana broke through in the third. Lilli Burton doubled to left-center and advanced on a groundout before scoring on a sacrifice fly by Alexis Duke to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead. Augustana then held Millikin to just two batters in the bottom half of the inning.
The Vikings exploded for six runs in the fourth. Aubrey Gradin led off with a double, and pinch runner Maya Viel later scored on a double by Emma Evans to make it 2-0. Mikaylin Hofer followed with an RBI double before scoring on a single by Burton to extend the lead to 4-0. Burton later scored on a single by Alaina Diaz, while Duke added another run after a Millikin error, giving Augustana a commanding 6-0 advantage.
In the fifth inning, Evans singled, and pinch runner Marley Behm came around to score on a fielder's choice to push the lead to 7-0. Millikin answered with one run in the fifth and added two more in the sixth to cut the deficit to 7-3.
Augustana responded in the seventh as Hofer launched a solo home run — the first of her career — to cap the scoring.
The Vikings rallied with 12 hits in the win, with Burton leading with three, while Evans, Hofer, and Schmidt had two apiece. Jill Harbuck pitched all seven innings for Augie, throwing 139 pitches and recording seven strikeouts.
With the win, Augie improves to 21-20 on the season and will be back in action tomorrow against Illinois Wesleyan at 3:30 p.m.
This content is sourced from
Augustana College
. It reflects the author's views and has not been edited by our newsroom. It may have been generated using AI assistance.
