Emily Mahoney (Crystal Lake, Ill.) tossed a four-hit, complete-game shutout to lift the fourth-seeded Dominican University Stars past the Concordia University Chicago Cougars 1-0 in the first elmination game of the 2011 Northern Athletics Conference (NAC) Softball Tournament.

The Stars pushed across a run an unearned run in the bottom of the fourth as Melissa Summaria (Algonquin, Ill.) reached on an error.  The Stars then loaded the bases with one out as the Cougars' Sam DeFord hit Dominican's Mary Costello (Chicago, Ill.) and Jori Cicale (Steger, Ill.).  Mikaela Westbrook (Farmington, Mo.) pushed across what proved to the winning run as she grounded into a fielder's choice with Summaria crossing the plate.

Mahoney, who had allowed just two hits heading into the top of the seventh, surrendered back-to-back singles to start the seventh.  After a walk loaded the bases with nobody out, Mahoney induced a ground ball back to the mound, picking up the first out of the inning on a force at home before striking out DeFord and Felicity Woodson to preserve the win.

Mahoney improves to 12-5 on the season, allowing just four hits and one walk while striking out eight over seven innings of work.

Offensively, the Stars scored one run on five hits and three walks.  Mahoney and Kristen Look (Frankfort, Ill.) each went 2-for-3 at the plate while NAC Player of the Year Sarah Budz (Orland Park, Ill.) went 0-for-1 with two walks.  The Stars' slugger has been walked five times in just two NAC Tournament games, including three intentional base-on-balls yesterday in the Stars' loss to Lakeland.

Dominican will return to the field at 5:00 PM Friday evening, taking on the winner of Game Six of the conference tournament between Lakeland College and Concordia University Wisconsin.