The Dominican University softball team moved to 6-2 on the season with wins over the NJCU Gothic Knights and the preseason #11 Montclair State University Hawks in Cape Coral, Florida, on Thursday.  Haley Locher (Lisle, Ill.) picked up a win and a save on the day, moving to 2-2 in the circle on the season.
 
The Stars have four games remaining on Dominican's spring trip to the Gene Cusic Classic, taking on UW-Superior and Ohio Wesleyan on Friday before closing out the week against UW-Platteville and Alfred State on Saturday.
 
Game One:  Dominican 9, NJCU 1 (5 Inn.)
 
The Stars staked Locher to a 4-0 lead before she set foot in the circle, pushing across four runs in the top of the first behind a RBI double by Sara Hausl (St. Charles, Ill.) and a RBI triple by Armani Procter (Chicago, Ill.).  Siena Gyure (Crown Point, Ind.), getting the start as the Stars' DP and batting in the clean-up spot, also logged an RBI in the frame, legging out an infield single that plated Hausl.
 
After Locher went one-two-three in the bottom of the first, Dominican tacked on two more runs in the visitor's half of the second inning.  Ashley Rea (Lockport, Ill.) brought home Vivian Juarez (Lake Zurich, Ill.) with a sacrifice fly after Juarez was hit by a pitch before stealing second and third.  Hausl followed with a single, stole second and the Stars had first and third after Marissa Burns (Shorewood, Ill.) singled through the left side of the infield.  Dominican then successfully executed a double-steal, with Burns swiping second and Hausl home.
 
In the fourth, Gyure added another RBI single, pushing the Stars' lead to 7-0.
 
The Stars added insurance runs in the top of the fifth, including a RBI single by Kaitlyn Tripp (Imperial, Mo.).
 
Locher tossed the first three innings to pick up the win, surrendering two hits and one walk while striking out three.  Gyure took over in the circle in the fourth, a run on one hit and two walks while striking out four.
 
Offensively, the Stars tallied 12 hits, led by Hausl who was a perfect 3-for-3 with a double, one RBI and two runs scored.  Gyure and Sarah Conway (Chicago, Ill.) logged two hits apiece with Gyure driving in two.
 
Game Two:  Dominican 8, Montclair State 7
 
In game two, the Stars built an 8-2 lead before holding on for an 8-7 win over the Montclair State University Red Hawks.  Locher entered the game in the fifth with the bases loaded and one out and the Stars leading 8-5.  Locher tossed the final 2.2 innings, allowing two runs on three hits and two walks to pick up her first save of the season.
 
Rea picked up three hits in the leadoff spot, scoring one run and driving in another.  Kaitlin Barajas (Dyer, Ind.) and Ali Woitovich (Downers Grove, Ill.) each went 2-for-3 and scored a run while Woitovich drove in three.
 
Catherine Conte (Elmwood Park, Ill.) delivered the big hit for Dominican in the bottom of the first, bouncing a bases-loaded single down the third base line that scored Burns and Barajas as the Stars opened a 6-1 lead after one.
 
After Montclair got a run back in the top of the second, Woitovich lined an RBI single to right with runners at second and third for the Stars to make it a 7-2 ballgame after two.
 
Woitovich added a sacrifice fly in the fourth as the Stars opened an 8-2 lead.
 
In the Montclair fifth, starting pitcher Michelle Behrens ran into trouble as she walked the first two hitters of the inning.  After a single loaded the bases, head coach Cristina Lukas turned the game over to Sarah Slouber (Willow Springs, Ill.) in the circle.  Slouber got the first hitter she faced to roll into a fielder's choice that scored one run but then walked two hitters and allowed an infield single before being lifted for Locher.
 
Locher got the final two outs of the fifth, escaping the inning with an 8-5 lead.
 
After the Stars went down in order in the top of the sixth, the Red Hawks capitalized on a pair of walks and a Dominican error to push across two unearned runs to send the game to the seventh, 8-7.
 
In the top of the seventh, Locher surrendered a leadoff single that was erased when Woitovich started a 5-4-3 double play.  The next hitter roped a double to left center but Locher stranded the tying run in scoring position, getting the final hitter of the game looking at strike three.