Viking seniors ‘graduate’ before national championship

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Augustana’s commencement is set for Saturday, but the five graduating seniors on the softball team are going to miss the ceremonies as they will be in Orlando for the Division II national championship. After returning from the Super Regionals after 4 a.m. Thursday morning and before leaving town again on Friday, the program held a special commencement ceremony for those Vikings.

“Graduating on Bowden with my teammates and people who I love dearly, it’s a great feeling,” Augustana senior Torri Chute said. “I love it.”

“Being able to be surrounded by faculty and my teammates and our coaches that all have helped this whole journey go super well, it’s all been super fun,” Augustana senior Gracey Brink said. “So it’s been amazing to have that experience here on the field.”

For the seniors, this season marks their second trip to the national championship, also going in 2021. They head into the tournament on a 32-game winning streak. The program is making its seventh appearance on this stage and is looking national title No. 3, joining the 1991 and 2019 teams.

“I think it’s the goal of every person that comes in to play college softball to get to that point,” Brink said. “And just a testament to this program, too, to be able to make it there the numerous times that we’ve been able to make it there.”

“One word to describe it would be fairy tale, I think,” Augustana senior Kennedy Buckman said. “I originally came to Augustana to win a national championship and to not only get there once, but now we’re getting there twice. And to win it would just be everything.”

“It would be a dream come true,” Chute said. “It’s everything I’ve dreamed for since I was a little girl. And having that be this last week is going to be my last week of my career. And knowing that I’m going to be at the National tournament, hopefully in the national title game, winning it with my best friends, that would be an amazing end to my softball career.”

The Vikings are the seven seed in the eight-team field and open up against UT Tyler on Sunday at 3 p.m.

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