The Dominican University softball team opened the 2013 Northern Athletics Conference (NAC) season on Wednesday, sweeping a doubleheader from the Stars' neighborhood rival, the Concordia University Chicago Cougars, 2-1 in 10 innings and 7-5.

In game one, starting pitcher Emily Mahoney (Crystal Lake, Ill.) provided a walk-off single in the tenth inning to score Sara Hausl (St. Charles, Ill.) who started off the frame by lining a single into left.

In the circle, Mahoney picked up the complete-game victory, surrendering one run on seven hits and one walk while fanning 14 hitters over ten innings.

Meghan Johnson provided the Cougars' lone run on a solo home run to right-center to start the seventh inning. The Cougars then got back-to-back hits, including a double off the bat off Jenni Jensen to put runners at second and third with nobody out. Mahoney then got Andrea Kelly to pop out and punched out Sami DeFord before escaping the inning with minimal damage as Sarah James bounced out to Hausl at short.

Dominican then manufactured a run in the last of the seventh without hitting the ball out of the infield to force extras. Andrea Pinarski (Goshen, Ind.) drew a lead-off walk after falling behind in the count 1-2 and then took second on a wild pitch. Pinarski advanced to third as Allie Evans (Greenwood, Ind.) bounced out to short. Pinarski then crossed the plate as pinch-hitter Erica King (Lyons, Ill.) got jammed on an inside fastball and hit a soft ground ball to third base with Pinarski running on contact.

DeFord took the loss in the circle for the Cougars despite limiting the Stars to five hits and six walks over nine-plus innings while striking out five in just her second pitching appearance of the season.

In game number two it was freshman Kaitlin Barajas that provided the game-winning hit as she deposited a 3-2 fastball over the fence in left-center with Melissa Summaria (Algonquin, Ill.) along for the ride. The shot was Barajas's second long-ball of the season and broke a 5-5 tie in the bottom of the fifth.

Sarah Slouber (Willow Springs, Ill.) picked up the win working in relief. Slouber entered the game in the top of the third and had the Cougars off-balance the remainder of the game as she changed speeds effectively. Slouber moves to 2-3 on the season as she limited the Cougars to two runs on three hits while striking out six and walking none.

With the wins, the Stars improve to 10-4 on the season while the Cougars fall to 3-11. Dominican is scheduled to be back in action on Saturday, slated to travel to Rockford to take on the Rockford College Regents in a NAC twinbill. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.