SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – No. 1 seed Augustana softball scored a run in each of the bottom of the first and third innings and that would prove to be enough as the Vikings defeated No. 10 seed Southwest Minnesota State 2-0 in the opening-round of the NSIC/US Bank Softball Tournament on Thursday.
 
Augustana (48-7), ranked No. 9 in the country and No. 1 in the NCAA Central Region, finished the game with six hits but left seven runners on base. Senior right-handed pitcher Jenelle Trautmann (28-2) earned her 100th career victory in the circle tossing a complete-game shutout while allowing just three hits and striking out seven.
 
Alex O'Connor took the loss for SMSU (26-28) dropping her season record to 18-17.
 
The Vikings had six different players scatter hits for the Vikings. Trautmann helped her own cause driving in one of Augustana's two runs finishing 1 for 3 with an RBI single.
 
Augustana took an early lead scoring a run on two hits in the bottom of the first inning. Caitlin Nichol led off the game with a single to right center and after a five-pitch walk by Carley Pickett, the Vikings quickly had two runners on with no outs.
 
Sarah Kennedy then lined out sharply to center field and Trautmann took the first pitch she saw right back up the box to drive in Nichol and give Augustana a 1-0 lead.  The Vikings would end up leaving two runners on base in the bottom of the first and did the same in the bottom of the second after a one-out single by Kylie Rome and Nichol reaching after being hit by a pitch.
 
After two quick outs in the bottom of the third, Carly Peterson reached on a fielding error by SMSU and Jordan Schaffer moved her up to second with a single up the middle and Peterson came around to score when Karlee Koopman reached on a dropped fly ball to put Augustana up 2-0.
 
Trautmann held the Mustangs without a hit through three innings but SMSU got a leadoff bunt single by Katelyn Kalkman and another single by Madisson Chadwick in the top of the fourth to break up the no-hit bid. SMSU had runners on second and third after a ground out to first base but Trautmann struck out her sixth batter of the game to end the threat.
 
Augustana got a leadoff single in each of the fourth and fifth innings but a double play in the fourth and two straight strikeouts in the fifth kept the Vikings from adding to the lead.
 
SMSU put a runner on base in the top of the seventh after a leadoff walk by Chadwick but Trautmann got two ground outs and a fly out to end the inning and the game.
 
Augustana advances in the NSIC/US Bank Softball Tournament and will play No. 5 seed Wayne State at 12 p.m. on Friday, May 1 on Field A at Sherman Park in Sioux Falls.