Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 FORT MYERS, Fla. – With two more games added to the win column today, the Dominican University Stars softball team has evened out their record with five wins on five losses in the season. The Stars defeated fellow midwestern opponents Northland College and Bethany Lutheran College today for four consecutive wins in Fort Myers.

Melissa Summaria (Algonquin, Ill./Dundee Crown) got things rolling for the Stars when she got a base hit bunt to start the bottom of the second inning, then stole two bases on consecutive pitches before taking advantage of a Lumberjill error to score the Stars’ first run of the game and tie things up at 1-1.

The Stars would add another run in the third for their first lead of the game when Tayler Miller (Elkhart, Ind./Elkhart Memorial) brought Andrea Pinarski (Goshen, Ind./Concord) across the plate on a two-out RBI single to center field.

Neither team would score in the fourth frame, as the Stars used a 4-6-3 double play to start the inning, and then Sarah Slouber (Willow Springs, Ill./Argo) would close it out with her fourth of five strikeouts on the day.

A two-run homer by the Lumberjills in the fifth forced another tie, and Pinarski answered right away in the bottom of the inning, knocking a double to left field and advancing to third on the play. Summaria then brought her in with a sac bunt to give the Stars the lead again, and Slouber brought in Miller on back-to-back doubles, making the score 4-3 in favor of the Stars.

Northland would force yet another tie in the top of the sixth inning, 4-4, but the Stars would get three in the bottom of the inning after Emily Mahoney (Crystal Lake, Ill./South) brought in Sarah Budz (Orland Park, Ill./Providence Catholic) and Miller added two RBI’s to her stat line with a single to left field (video).

The victory was sealed after six and one-half innings when Jori Cicale (Steger, Ill./Marian Catholic) recorded her biggest of five strikeouts in the game, fanning the final Lumberjill batter with runners on each bag.

The Stars tallied 14 hits in the game (four different players recorded doubles), which led to six RBI’s and six stolen bases. Miller went 3-4 at the plate with three RBI’s, a double, and one run scored, while Summaria and Pinarski each went 2-3 at the plate with two runs apiece. Summaria also swiped three bases to lead the Stars’ aggressive base-running in the win.

Against Bethany Lutheran, Dominican jumped ahead in their first at-bat, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning.

After the Vikings scored two in the third to close the gap, the Stars answered back in a big way, bringing eight runners across the plate for the 11-2 lead and eventual final score of the game.

The eight-run surge was started by a Budz double to right field, followed by a Corinne Wimmer (Elgin, Ill./Larkin) infield hit and Mahoney RBI single, scoring Budz. The Stars’ offense continued to flood the Vikings’ defense with hits all the way through the lineup, before Budz, Wimmer, and Mahoney were able to face the Vikings’ pitcher for a second time in the inning.

Eight runs were scored in the inning via six hits, two stolen bases, two walks, and a hit by pitch, and the Stars defense would keep the Vikings from scoring in each of their next two chances, giving the Stars a run-rule victory after four and one-half innings played.

Summaria had three of the Stars’ 11 RBI’s in the game, going 2-2 at the plate, while Wimmer got two infield hits on two chances. Cicale and Marissa Gray (Elk Grove, Ill./Conant) each stepped into the circle of the Stars, recording three and two strikeouts in as many innings pitched.

The Stars will finish up their play in the Gene Cusic Classic tomorrow morning, facing Wittenberg University at 9 AM EST and Rochester Institute of Technology at 11 AM EST.