Contact: Nicholas Osterloo, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, 630-637-5302

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (May 2nd, 2021) - In their final regular-season games of the season, the North Central College softball team dropped both ends of a doubleheader to Augustana College to finish the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) with a 16-16 record, earning the 5th seed in the conference tournament, which begins on Thursday.

Katie Del Re began the top of the first innings with a single, before Jaime Smith advanced her to third on a sacrifice bunt. Emily Miller plated Del Re to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. The Vikings tied the game in the bottom of the first, thanks to back-to-back-to-back singles. 

North Central took the lead back in the third inning when Gianna Corban singled down the left field line. Miller followed that up with an RBI-single to score Amanda Martinez who pinch ran for Corban, to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead.

After Augustana knotted the game at two, Elena Stevenson singled to open the fifth inning. Andrea Richards pinch ran for her and moved to second base on a Corban sacrifice bunt. Richards scored on a Vikings error before Del Re crossed home plate when Smith singled to left field, giving North Central a 4-2 advantage.

Augustana answered to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth on two hits which scored two runs for the Vikings. They added another in the bottom half of the sixth and went on to win game one, 5-4.

In game two, both teams were held scoreless until the top half of the fourth when the Vikings posted the first run of the game. They added three more runs in the fifth inning before taking a 6-0 lead into the seventh. North Central was able to score one run in the bottom of the seventh, but it wouldn't be enough as the Cardinals fell in game two, and finished the year at 20-18 overall.

The Cardinals begin the CCIW Tournament on Thursday with an opponent, date, and time TBD. Click HERE to learn more about the conference tournament format and host sites.

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