ELMHURST, Ill. - The Elmhurst University softbal team dropped a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) doubleheader to Augustana College (IL) Saturday afternoon at Salt Creek Park.

Elmhurst (10-13, 3-3 CCIW) fought hard in both games, with Augustana (13-13, 4-4 CCIW) scoring runs in the final inning in the clutch to take both sides of the doubleheader. 

In game one, a pitchers duel broke out, with each starter pitching all innings for each team. Chiara O'Leary tossed all eight innings, giving up five hits and three runs to fall to 4-5 on the season after the Viking starter tossed a complete-game shutout, striking out 15 Bluejays in the opener. The two teams stood with the score at zero all the way until the eighth inning, where the Vikings scored a trio in the eighth to take home the win.

Hannah Dunk provided two of the Bluejays' four hits in the first game, with Ali Mockenhaupt and O'Leary providing the other pair of Elmhurst hits.

Game one took a total of three hours and 44 minutes to complete, as the game went into a lightning delay with two outs in the seventh inning and took nearly an hour for lightning in the area to pass.

In game two, another pitchers duel broke out as the two starters began the game with strong innings in the circle. The Bluejays were able to pish through in the fifth inning, with Madigan Doss scoring on a perfectly executed double steal, taking a 1-0 lead. 

Augustana immediately responded in their half of the fifth, smacking a solo home run to center field to knot the game at one. Elmhurst was able to regain the lead in the sixth thanks to an RBI single from Jackie Orel, and added another after Leah Falk singled to right field to score Madison Spencer, with the Bluejays leading 3-1.

However, in the Viking half of the sixth, a fielding error allowed a pair of runs cross the plate to tie the game at three, and the go-ahead run crossing the plate on a single to right field, ultimately proving to be enough and allowing Augustana to come away with the 4-3 victory. Brianna Pisauro tossed 5.2 innings in game two, allowing 10 hits and two earned runs to drop to 5-5 on the season.

UP NEXT

Elmhurst will take on the University of Chicago in a non-conference doubleheader on Sunday, April 16 beginning at 1:00 p.m. CT.

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