Contact: Tyler Friel, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, 630-637-5302

Game one box score
Game two box score

May 2, 2017 – Finally able to play after two straight rain outs with College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin foe Augustana College, the North Central College softball team clinched their way into the postseason tournament with a game one extra inning victory, winning 6-5 before falling 6-1 in the nightcap Tuesday afternoon at Shanower Family Field.

Keeping up with their theme of the season in scoring early, the Cardinals jumped out to a 1-0 lead, sporting their black on black jersey combination on senior day. Samantha Phelps singled up the middle to score Taylor Clugston who had singled earlier in the inning. Augustana would respond in the third with a run of their own, an RBI double down the left field line to score Lauren Severson.

North Central blew the scoring open in the fourth as Clugston launched a drive to left field, hooking around the foul pole for a grand slam, her second homer of the season. The lead would not last long for the hosts as the Vikings used three hits and took advantage of a Cardinal error to score three runs in the fifth, bringing the score 5-4. With just three outs to record, the Cardinals could not seal the game in the seventh as Augustana forced extra innings with an RBI single to tie the score at five.

With Clugston on third and one out, the Vikings intentionally walked both Brooke Kehoe and Samantha Phelps to get to Jenna Trojniar. Trojniar would make them regret their decision with a single back up the middle to earn the 6-5 win.

Sarah Esposito would move to 5-3 on the year after taking over for Jessica Weaver's 7.1 inning performance. Clugston led the way for North Central with three hits in game one, including four RBI.

Game two would be all Vikings, jumping out to a 3-0 lead after three innings and a 5-0 lead after five. The Cardinals showed some life in the sixth, as Rachele Belletini singled with the bases loaded to break up the shutout but that would be all the Vikings would allow, getting that run back in their half of the sixth. The Vikings would end their season 14-22 and 6-10 in conference.

Jennifer Yager (6-8) received the loss, battling poor weather conditions to allow four earned runs on nine hits, striking out three and walking two.

With their win, North Central (20-18, 9-7 CCIW) will be the fourth seed in the CCIW tournament beginning Friday, May 5^th. The Cardinals will travel to Decatur to face Millikin University, the regular season champions at 2 pm. North Central was swept by the Big Blue 4-3 and 8-0 in the regular season.