As the Aurora University softball team headed north on Tuesday afternoon for a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference doubleheader at Edgewood College, a record was in their grasp, although the record setter did not know what was about to take place.

As the Spartans opened the doubleheader with Edgewood, AU Head Coach Mike McKenzie had 382 career wins in his 11-plus seasons as the Spartans coach, one behind legendary AU coach and administrator Dr. Sam Bedrosian who held the all-time win mark with 383 wins in 18 seasons coaching.

At days end, with a pair of victories in hand, 3-0 in game one and 11-1 in game two, the Spartans proudly celebrated with their coach for his tremendous record which now sits at 384-105-2.

The game one victory was a lightning quick contest as AU starting pitcher Vanessa Hartzell tossed a one-hit complete game shutout with the lone hit coming with one out in the bottom of the seventh, narrowly missing on a perfect game.

Offensively, the Spartans were efficient, scoring once in the fourth with Logan Cahill doubling and scoring on a sacrifice fly from Steph Starr. AU then added two big insurance runs in the top of the seventh with Lauren Huebner tripling to score Natalia Szyller (running for Taylor Moore) and Huebner then scored when Mandey Shrader reached on an error.

Game two saw the Spartans jump out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning for senior pitcher Natalie Zanella. Zanella made the 3-0 lead stand until the fifth when Edgewood pushed across a run after AU scored a run with Shrader singling, stealing second and scoring on a Cahill single.

The AU offense explode in the sixth and seventh, scoring three in the sixth and four in the seventh to seal the win for McKenzie's record breaking achievement. Shrader finished the game going four for five with three runs batted in and two runs scored and Megan Nerger was two for four with one run batted in and two runs scored.

With the sweep, AU is now 11-3 overall and 4-0 in the NACC. Next action for the Spartan softball team comes on Thursday, April 2, 2015 when they host DePauw University. Game one is set for 3:00 p.m. at the Stuart Sports Complex in Montgomery, Illinois.