The Dominican University softball team split a non-conference doubleheader with the North Park University Vikings at the Ballpark in Rosemont on Tuesday evening, with the Stars snapping a nine-game winning streak when they dropped game one.
The split pushes the Stars to 16-4 as they reach of the midway point of the season. Dominican returns to Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) action on Thursday, traveling to Milwaukee to take on the Alverno College Inferno. The Stars then return home for a Saturday twinbill against the Wisconsin Lutheran College Warriors in Forest Park.
Game One: North Park 12, Dominican 8 The Stars jumped all over the Vikings' starting pitcher, Jade Acevedo, roughing up the freshman righty for four runs on three hits as Acevedo lasted just four hitters.
Catherine Conte (Elmwood Park, Ill.) and
Alyssa Domico (Naperville, Ill.) each roped triples in the frame as the Stars pushed across five runs and sending nine hitters to the plate before the first inning was over.
Julia Faulconer came on for the Vikings, quieting the Stars' bats as she limited Dominican to just five base runners from the second inning through the sixth.
Meanwhile, the Vikings chipped away at the Dominican lead, getting their first run of the game in the top of the second when Meagan Bura and opened the frame with a single ahead of Faulconer who roped an RBI double to left center.
In the third, the Vikings bats went back to work, sending Dominican's
Michele Behrens (Frankfort, Ill.) to an early shower with a five-run inning, including a grand slam Kaileigh Moertl that cleared the fence in center.
North Park tacked on another run in the fourth as Courtney Iida plated Paige Massa with nobody out. Dominican's
Siena Gyure (Crown Point, Ind.) used a double play ball to escape further damage in the frame.
Dominican got one run back in the bottom of the fourth as
Sara Hausl (St. Charles, Ill.) lined a single to right to score
Vivian Juarez (Lake Zurich, Ill.) with two outs to make it a 7-6 ballgame after four innings.
North Park broke the game open in the top of the seventh, pushing across four runs on five singles and a double before the Stars could get an out.
Dominican refused to go quietly, bringing the tying run to the plate after a bases loaded infield single by
Allie Evans (Greenwood, Ind.) followed by a walk by
Ashley Rea (Lockport, Ill.) made it 12-8. However, Hausl, with two hits already in the game, bounced out to short to end the threat.
Behrens took the loss in the circle, suffering her first collegiate defeat. Behrens was charged with six runs, two earned, on seven hits and two walks through 2.2 innings.
Offensively, the Stars collected 13 hits, three by
Armani Procter (Chicago, Ill.) and two apiece for Hausl and Domico.
Game Two: Dominican 4, North Park 3 In game two, Dominican's
Kaitlyn Tripp (Imperial, Mo.) picked up her second game-winning RBI of the season, knocking in Rea on a walk-off fielder's choice after the Vikings scored an unearned run in the top of the seventh to knot the game at 3-3 heading to the Stars' final at-bat.
Dominican took another early lead in the game, putting up three runs in the bottom of the second. Tripp started off the inning with a single to left. One batter later,
Ali Woitovich (Downers Grove, Ill.) split the gap in right center for an RBI triple. Woitovich then scored when Conte roped her own triple to the gap in right center. After the Vikings' starting pitcher was lifted,
Haley Locher (Lisle, Ill.), the Stars' starting pitcher, laid down a perfect suicide squeeze to plate Conte.
The score stayed 3-0 until the top of the fifth, when the North Park took advantage of an errant Dominican throw to score an unearned run. The Vikings got another single run in the sixth when Bura singled with two outs to score Cyerra Rodriguez.
North Park got another lone run in the top of the seventh but ran out of a big inning when Nicole Kruckman tried to score the go-ahead run on a fly ball to right but was gunned down at the plate by Juarez who came on as a pinch runner in the bottom of the sixth and stayed on to play right in the seventh. The double play set the table for the Stars' walk-off victory.
Rea started the bottom of the seventh with a single up the middle. She stole second before Hausl singled to short to put runners at first and second with nobody out. After Domico laid down a sacrifice bunt, Tripp bounced a ball to second that allowed Rea to cross for the winning run.
Locher went the distance in the circle for the Stars, moving to 6-3 on the year as she allowed just three runs, one earned, on six hits and one walk while striking out five.
