After coming up on the short side of a 10-6 12 inning affair, the Dominican University softball team salvaged a split with the Aurora University Spartans, taking a 6-5 win in game two.

Junior right-hander Jori Cicale (Steger, Ill.) carried a no-hitter into the top of the fifth as the Stars jumped a 3-0 lead behind a two-run single and later an RBI double off the bat of Andrea Pinarski (Goshen, Ind.). However, after retiring the first hitter in the top of the fifth, the Spartans’ Sarah Clauser broke up the no-hit bid with a single to right. After a pop out to short, Jessica Scott lined a single to left to put runners on first and second for Aurora with two outs. Spartans’ head coach Mike McKenzie called on freshman Lillie Stone who knotted the game at 3-3 as she sent the first pitch she saw from Cicale over the left field fence.

The 3-3 score held up into the seventh when the Spartans got an unearned run to take a 4-3 lead.

In the Stars’ half of the seventh, Sarah Budz (Orland Park, Ill.) ripped a one-out single to center and took second as Shannon Star bobbled the ball in center. After Emily Mahoney (Crystal Lake, Ill.) was hit by a pitch and Gina Palumbo (Northlake, Ill.) popped out to short, Pinarski drove home Budz with a single to center.

The Spartans tacked on a pair of runs in the top of the ninth to take a 6-4 lead. Kristen Look (Frankfort, Ill.) and Budz started the Stars’ half of the ninth with back-to-back singles setting the stage for Pinarski once again who came to the plate with the bases loaded and one out. Pinarski sent a grounder to second but a hard slide by Palumbo took out the Spartans’ shortstop allowing Budz and Mahoney to score to knot the score a 6-6.

The score remained tied into the 12^th inning when the Spartans scored four runs, just one earned, on four hits and a costly error. The Stars then went down in order in the bottom half of the inning to give the Spartans the win.

Cicale went the distance in the circle for the Stars, scattering 14 hits and one walk over 12 innings while striking out six. The Stars’ ace was charged with 10 runs, six earned, after carrying a perfect game into the fifth inning. The loss dropped Cicale to 6-3 on the season.

In game two, the Spartans scored three runs in the top of the first, with Star providing the big blow, a two-run home run off Mahoney, the Stars’ game two starter.

The Stars answered in the bottom of the first, as Mahoney, Pinarski and Look collected back-to-back-to-back RBI singles to knot the score at 3-3.

In the bottom of the second, Budz launched her sixth home run of the season, a three-run shot to center, to give the Stars a 6-3 advantage.

The score remained 6-3 into the seventh when Clauser pulled the Spartans one run closer with a lead-off homer. The Spartans added another run on an RBI single by Brooke Spencer, but left runners on the corners as Mahoney shut the door, picking up her eighth win of the season.

Budz picked up three hits in both ends of the doubleheader for the Stars, improving her Northern Athletics Conference (NAC) leading batting average to .547. The Stars slugger also leads the conference with six home runs, four triples and a .987 slugging percentage.

The Stars now stand at 15-7 on the season and 9-3 in the NAC. Dominican will travel to Milwaukee, Wis., on Tuesday to take on the Mount Mary College Blue Angels in non-conference action. The Stars then return to NAC action with doubleheaders at Lakeland and Marian on Saturday and Sunday respectively.