For the second straight year, Augustana and Winona State met in the NSIC/US Bank Softball Tournament Championship game.
The second-seeded Warriors came out on top for just the second straight year, defeating top-seeded Augustana 4-1 on Saturday afternoon at Sherman Park.
Augustana advanced to the championship game with a 6-5 come-from-behind win over third seed Minnesota State earlier on Saturday. Augustana will enter the NCAA Tournament at 50-9 on the season.
The Vikings have won 50-plus games in a season nine times in program history, including three times under ninth-year head coach Gretta Melsted. The Vikings were held to just four hits in the championship game as Winona State’s Hanna Lythberg earned the win striking out three and forcing 15 ground ball outs. Karlee Koopman, making just her fifth start of the season, held the Warriors in check for most of the afternoon striking out two and allowing just one earned run over seven innings. Augustana took its only lead of the game in the bottom of the first inning when Sarah Kennedy sent her NCAA-leading 25th double of the season down the right field line to score Caitlin Nichol, who led off the inning with a single, to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead.
