ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul softball team (16-37, 10-20 NSIC) dropped both games to Augustana (47-7, 28-2 NSIC) on Senior Day to close out their season. The Vikings won game one 12-1 and game two 5-2.
 
Augustana 12, Concordia-St. Paul 1
The NSIC champion Vikings flexed their muscles from the start as Caitlin Nichol sent the second pitch of the game down the left field line over the wall to quickly take a 1-0 lead.
 
Jordan Schaffer started the second inning in the same way as the first as she took the second pitch she saw out to deep right center to extend the lead with a solo homer. Four batters later, Nichol stepped up and launched a three-run shot to right for her second homer of the day. After the next hitter singled, Sarah Kennedy hit the third homer of the inning to bring the score to 7-0.
 
Haley Schanks continued the home run trend as she took the first pitch of bottom of the second deep to left to put the Golden Bears on the board.
 
Augustana loaded the bases with one out and the middle of the order up in the fourth but Stephanie Kappes limited the damage as she allowed just one run to cross the plate on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Jenelle Trautmann.
 
Kappes shut out the Vikings over the next two innings to extend the game before Augie broke through with four more runs in the seventh. Kylie Rome brought home the first two in the inning with a single before Nichol hit her third homer of the game, a two-run shot to center. Nichol's three homers pushed her total to a program-record 20 on the season.
 
Trautmann (27-2) was excellent for Augustana in the circle as she worked 6.0 innings and allowed just one run on three hits while striking out eight. Karlee Koopman pitched a scoreless seventh to close out the win.
 
Kappes, Concordia's lone senior, made her 96^th and final start in navy and gold as she went the distance in the loss. She struck out two in her 7.0 innings of work.
 
Teona Zepeda and Nicole Thompson had the other two hits for the Golden Bears.
 
Augustana 5, Concordia-St. Paul 2
Augustana struck first again in the second game as Sarah Kennedy took a two-out pitch from Linzy Heim out over the wall in center but that would be all for either team through the first three innings.
 
Heim and Carley Pickett matched zeroes until the Vikings added another run with the help of a Concordia error in the fourth. A throwing error on a bunt with a runner on first allowed Augie to put two runners in scoring position before eventually loading the bases with one down. Kylie Rome nearly cleared the bases with a grand slam but Teona Zepeda made a nice running catch at the fence which limited the damage to a sacrifice fly. Heim retired the next hitter to escape the jam with just lone run coming in.
 
The Golden Bears brought that momentum to the plate as they strung together three hits and a walk in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game at 2-2. Nicole Thompson singled and Jamie Fleischhacker walked to set the table for Emily Shinn to deliver a run scoring single to end the shutout. Later in the inning with two down, Elena Koncar stepped up and drove a big hit to center to even the score.
 
The Vikings didn't waste any time taking the lead back as they put up a three spot the next half inning in the top of the fifth. Augie loaded the bases with two outs before Maddie Merrian came through with the go-ahead hit with a two-run single to right. Caitlin Nichol followed with another single to add an insurance run and push the lead to 5-2.
 
Augie pitcher Carley Pickett (16-4) shut the door the rest of the way as didn't allow a run over the final three innings. She allowed just the two runs on six hits with seven strikeouts in the complete game win.
 
Linzy Heim (2-7) did a solid job of limiting the high-powered Viking offense as she allowed five runs (four earned) on seven hits with a pair of strikeouts. She allowed seven hits in the loss as she worked the full 7.0 innings.
 
Emily Shinn collected two of Concordia's six hits to lead the Golden Bear attack.