Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Dominican University softball team managed just five runs through the first 13 innings the Stars played on Tuesday morning before exploding for three runs in the bottom of the seventh as walkoff winners against the Bluffton University Beavers after losing to the Franklin College Grizzlies in the Stars' first game of the day.

The split pushes the Stars to 3-1 on the young season after picking up a pair of victories Monday on the Stars' opening day at the Gene Cusic Classic in Fort Myers. Fla. Dominican returns to action on Wednesday, taking on Clark University and Kenyon College.

Franklin College (Ind.) 4, Dominican 2

The Grizzlies took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first as the first three hitters that faced Dominican's sophomore hurler Haley Locher (Lisle, Ill.) reached on singles including an RBI single off the bat of McKensie Vanosdol that scored Shannon Farr. Locher then settled down, getting Kelsey Baillie to line into a double play before escaping further damage with a groundout to short.

The Stars didn't get their first hit until Dominique Schneider (Lockport, Ill.) led off the top of the fourth with a single. Schneider later scored on a two-run, two-out single off the bat of Allie Evans (Greenwood, Ind.) that plated Schneider and Kaitlin Barajas (Dyer, Ind.) to give the Stars a 2-1 lead.

Franklin evened the score in the top of the fifth, capitalizing on a Stars' error, and then plated the go-ahead tally in the top of the sixth. The Grizzlies tacked on another run in the top of the seventh, giving starting pitcher Bailey Lindamood some breathing room.

Dominican threatened in their half of the sixth as Barajas singled, her second hit of the game, and Evans was later hit by a pitch to put runners at first and second with one out. However a fielder's choice and strikeout got Lindamood out of trouble. The Grizzlies' freshman pitcher then sat the Stars' down in order in the seventh to pick up her first win of the season.

Locher took the loss in the circle for the Stars, falling to 1-1 on the season. The Lisle native was charged with four runs, three earned, on ten hits and three walks while punching out one.

Dominican 6, Bluffton University (Ohio) 5

The Stars, behind junior pitcher Sarah Slouber (Willow Springs, Ill.), fell behind 4-0 through three innings after the Beavers pushed across three runs in the top of the first on two hits, two walks and a pair of wild pitches in the top of the first and tacked on another run in the top of the third.

After Slouber tossed her first one-two-three inning in the top of the fourth, the Stars offense went to work. Dominican scratched its first run of the game across in the bottom of the fourth, as Siena Guyre (Crown Point, Ind.) led off the inning with a walk. Alyssa Domico (Naperville, Ill.) followed with a single and the Stars later scored when Catherine Conte (Elmwood Park, Ill.) grounded out to second.

Bluffton got that run back in the top of the fifth, taking advantage of a pair of Dominican miscues in the field while failing to hit the ball out of the infield. Slouber recovered, stranding runners at first and third to send the game to the bottom of the fifth with the Stars trailing 5-1.

The Stars cut into the Beavers' lead in the bottom of the fifth, pushing across a pair of runs on three hits and a pair of Bluffton errors. Domico tallied the big hit, singling through the left side to score Schneider and pull the Stars within 5-3.

After a scoreless sixth inning, Slouber pitched around a one-out walk in the top of the seventh.

In last of the seventh, the Stars' rally started as Scheider reached on a drop-third strike. Ashley Rea (Lockport, Ill.) roped a one-out single up the middle to put runners at first and second for Domico. Domico singled up the middle to drive in her second run of the game and Evans followed with a RBI infield single to even the game at 5-5. A Beaver error loaded the bases for Armani Procter (Chicago, Ill.) who drove in the winning run on a single through the left side of the infield.

Domico went 4-for-4 in the win with four singles and a pair of RBI. Procter added a pair of base hits as the pair combined for six of the Stars' 11 hits.

Slouber recovered from a rocky first inning to pick up the win. The Stars' junior right-hander was charged with five runs, four earned, on six hits and seven walks.