Ranked No. 8 nationally, softball aims for impressive finish

The Augustana softball team (41-7, 22-3 NSIC) will look to add to a strong regular season showing by capturing the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) tournament title this coming weekend.

After winning the regular-season NSIC, the Vikings were awarded host of the conference tournament. The tournament will take place May 5-7 at Bowden Field and Sioux Falls' Sherman Park.

Augustana opens up play as the No. 1 seed and will take on the No. 8 U-Mary on Thursday at noon.

Although the Vikings lost their final two games of the season with tough losses to Wayne State, they were still able to win the conference by a half-game over Wayne State, giving them back-to-back regular season titles under head coach Gretta Melsted.

The Vikings were led this season by a high-power offense that showed up to hit nearly every single game. Two players batted above .400 for the Vikings, while five more were able to achieve season averages above .300.

Sophomore Jenny Brown led the team with a .434 average while her sophomore teammate, Theresa McMahon, led the team with 13 home runs.

Traci Fransen finished a strong four-year stint at Augustana by leading the team with 59 RBIs in her senior year.

Fransen also set a new record at Augustana for career home runs when she hit her 35th home run earlier this season against Winona State.

On the mound, senior Mickey Anderson and juniors Chelsey Durland and Ashley Meyer combined to post a team ERA of 1.63. Meyer led the team in wins, going 20-3 on the year and struck out 163 batters.

Augustana will try to get things rolling again after having its 15 game winning streak snapped in the final doubleheader of the season against Wayne State.

Wayne State also ended the Vikings season last year by defeating them 2-1 in the Central Regional Championship.

Augustana recently climbed to No. 8 in the latest National Rankings–the highest it has been ranked all season.

"We've had a great year," junior Taylor Kapsch said.  "Hopefully we can continue getting those wins."