Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Dominican University softball team held on the top spot in the Northern Athletics Conference (NAC) standings with a sweeping Sunday’s series against the Lakeland College Muskies, 7-2 and 7-1, to move to 18-6 on the season and a perfect 10-0 in NAC play.  Haley Locher (Lisle, Ill.) and Emily Mahoney (Crystal Lake, Ill.) picked up the wins in the circle while Amanda Moran (River Grove, Ill.) and Armani Procter (Chicago, Ill.) both left the yard.
 
In game one, Moran’s bomb broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the second with Allie Evans (Greenwood, Ind.) and Melissa Summaria (Algonquin, Ill.) aboard.  The Stars tacked on an unearned run in the frame as Sara Hausl (St. Charles, Ill.) reached on an error and stole second before scoring on a single by Andrea Pinarski (Goshen, Ind.). 
 
Dominican tacked on two more in the bottom of the third on an RBI double by Summaria followed by a run-scoring single off the bat of Kaitlin Barajas (Dyer, Ind.).
 
In the top of the fourth, Mahoney was lifted for Locher with the six-run lead for the Stars.  Mahoney had held the Muskies hitless through the first three frames, surrendering just one walk while striking out six.  Locher improved to 3-0 in the circle as she surrendered just two runs on four hits and two walks the rest of the way while striking out two.
 
The Stars pounded out nine hits in the win with Evans, Barajas and Summaria all picking up two hits apiece.  Moran finished the game 1-for-3 with her first collegiate career home run.
 
Mahoney returned to toe the rubber in game two, seeing her 33-inning scoreless streak broke as Heather Haeflinger launched a solo home run with one out in the third to give the Muskies a 1-0 advantage.
 
Dominican finally answered back as Procter led off the bottom of the fourth with her team-leading third home run of the season, leaving the yard to right-center.
 
The score remained tied into the bottom of the fifth when Hausl led off with a single up the middle for the Stars.  Pinarski laid down a sacrifice bunt and the Stars ended up with runners at the corners after the Muskies committed their first error of the game.  After Pinarski stole second, Erica King (Lyons, Ill.) plated both runners with a single up the middle.  Dominican added another run on a sacrifice fly by Procter to take a 4-1 lead after five.
 
After Mahoney worked a one-two-three sixth, the Stars added three more insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth, including a two-run single by Mahoney.
 
Mahoney then closed out the victory, working a perfect seventh.
 
Mahoney improves to 12-2 in the circle as she surrendered just one run on four hits and one walk while striking out nine in her 11^th complete game effort of the season.
 
The Stars have two huge series on deck this week with Aurora University and Benedictine University on Tuesday and Thursday respectively.  The Spartans and Eagles sit directly behind the Stars in the conference standings at second and third respectively.  Both series are on the road with the Stars then traveling to Wisconsin Lutheran on Saturday.