NSIC Softball Tournament, Augustana & USF Play Wednesday
The 2023 NSIC Softball Tournament begins Wednesday, May 3 in Rochester, Minnesota featuring ten teams that include number-1 seed Augustana University.
Augie will await the winner and play at 2:00 PM.
NSIC Player of the Week Kennedy Thomas who led the Cougars last week with 11 runs and scored and nine RBIs is up against the Golden Bears who won five of their last six games.
Kait Van Der Zwaag boasts a 1.56 ERA in 18 innings pitched with a 3-0 record. She pitched three complete games while striking out five batters and only giving up four runs. She picked up a 13-0 shutout against Wayne State.
Augustana concluded the regular season with a 36-13 overall record while winning the NSIC with a 23-5 mark.
The Vikings Torri Chute helped Augustana to its third-straight NSIC Championship while batting .476 for the week. She recorded 10 hits and nine RBI while scoring seven runs. She owned a .810 slugging percentage and reached base in 50 percent of her plate appearances.
The NSIC Championship will take place Saturday, May 6 at noon.
The winner of the NSIC Tournament earns the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Central Region Tournament.
The 42-team NCAA Central Region is made up of teams from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA), and the Great American Conference (GAC). Automatic bids are awarded to the tournament champions from each conference with the final five spots awarded on an at-large basis.