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Today is Wednesday, May 22. As of now, Augustana baseball and Augustana softball are both still alive in their quest to become national champions.

The Vikings baseball team hosts the super regionals on May 24-25 vs. Central Missouri. The winner of that best-of-three series moves on to the College World Series, which features the top eight teams in the nation.

Vikings softball is already among the top eight in their College World Series (although it’s officially called the D-II Softball Championships). After all the super regions played out, the Vikings were given the #3 seed among the top eight, and will play the #6 seed UC-San Diego on May 23 in Denver at 7:30 PM. The double-elimination tournament will continue until a champion is crowned.

Of course, both of these teams have been in this position before, although some more recently than others. Augustana softball won the national championship back in 1991, while Augie baseball won it all last season. And with the Vikings still alive in 2019 in both baseball and softball, it got me thinking on how often this has happened before. Let’s go to the numbers.

A Champion In Both Sports

With softball reaching the top in 1991 and baseball reaching the summit in 2018, Augustana is one of a few schools to actually win a national championship in both sports. Across all three NCAA divisions, there are only 23 schools that can claim to have national champions in baseball and softball.

Division I (9)

• Arizona
• Arizona State
• California
• Cal State Fullerton
• Florida
• Fresno State (CA)
• Michigan
• Oklahoma
• UCLA

Division II (8)

• Augustana (SD)
• Cal State Northridge
• Florida Southern
• Kennesaw State (GA)
• Lynn (FL)
• Southern Indiana
• St. Mary's (TX)
• Valdosta State (GA)

Division III (6)

• Chapman (CA)
• Eastern Connecticut State
• Ithaca (NY)
• Linfield (OR)
• St. Thomas (MN)
• Texas-Tyler

As you can see, Augustana’s in pretty elite company, but they have a chance to do something even more exclusive. Among those 23 schools, only three have won a national baseball and softball championship in the same season.

• Eastern Connecticut State (D-III): 1982 and 1990
• Cal State Northridge (D-II): 1984
• Kennesaw State (D-II): 1996

So, you have one school from the east coast, one from the west coast and one from the south. All that’s missing is the Midwest, right? Augustana can become the 4th school to win both championships in the same season. And while simply looking at the odds means that it probably won’t happen, the fact the Vikings are in this position is a testament to how Tim Huber and Gretta Melsted have built their programs.

Consistency Is Key

Both Huber and Melsted have been around for more than a decade in Sioux Falls and their ability to understand their respective squads has helped tremendously. For the softball team, this is their first trip to the national championships since 2012 and Melsted admitted she had to tweak the roster just to get back there.

“We changed our recruiting just a little bit,” Melsted said in an interview with Midco SN last week. “My teams in the past have all been really power dominated and we’ve never had a lot of speed. And well, maybe the last year or two, we’ve brought in more speed and we’re just so much more balanced than we’ve ever been.”

For Huber and the baseball team, the challenge this season has not only been to repeat as national champions, but to do so with the target firmly on their back. Augustana was a five seed in the Central Region, and then it was re-seeded as a five seed in the College World Series, and it still won it all in 2018. This season, they’re the top seed in the Central Region and will probably be ranked higher than 5th should they make it back to the College World Series. And while the softball team had to adjust its personnel, Huber said the baseball team simply needed to remember that what got them to the top in 2018 still works in 2019.

“It’s real simple: pitchers throw strikes, catch it and throw it on defense and get big hits on offense,” Huber said in an interview with MidcoSN last week. “That was our motto last year in my world, just to get out there and get after it. And if you can do those things, you have a chance.”

A Sign For The Future?

These opportunities are few and far between for either of these teams individually, let alone together. And with the impending move to Division I athletics, this may be one of the last times we see such a dominant spring sports season for Augustana. But it’s also a sign, to me, that whenever the move officially gets underway, the ability to adjust won’t be a problem.

Yes, the competition will be more difficult. And yes, it will take time to get every athletic program up to speed. But as I alluded to in my blog a few weeks ago about A.J. Plitzuweit transferring from Augustana to South Dakota in basketball, things will eventually come around.

The desire for greatness, cliché as it is, has allowed Augustana to thrive. The baseball and softball teams have both exemplified what happens when you have the right people in the right places. Tenured coaches, understanding personnel and a positive attitude have led Augustana to the brink of unprecedented history. The future is uncertain, but fans in this region should appreciate the present.