The Dominican University softball team used a pair of two-run rallies in the fifth and sixth innings of game two to top the MSOE Raiders 6-5 in game two of a doubleheader, salvaging a split after the Stars were blanked in the opener, 4-0.  Haley Locher (Lisle, Ill.) picked up the game two victory in the circle to move to 8-5 on the season while Ashley Rea (Lockport, Ill.) notched the game-winning hit, with a two-run single in the bottom of the sixth.
 
With the split, the Stars move to 26-12 on the season and 14-8 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC), securing the number five seed in the 2015 NACC Tournament next weekend.  The Stars will be paired with their neighborhood rivals, the Concordia Chicago Cougars in round one with the game slated for a 12:00 p.m. first pitch on Thursday at Alverno Field in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
 
Game One:  MSOE 4, Dominican 0
 
The Raiders' Shannon Curtis limited the Stars to just three hits and two walks while picking up the complete-game victory for MSOE.  Curtis stopped a seventh inning rally for the Stars, stranding runners at second and third when she got Dominican's Kaitlin Barajas (Dyer, Ind.) to fly out to center on a 1-1 pitch.  Catherine Conte (Elmwood Park, Ill.) worked a two-out walk earlier in the inning and then moved to third when Alyssa Domico (Naperville, Ill.) followed with a ground rule double down the right field line.  It was the only runners Dominican got in scoring position all game.
 
Curtis got all the run support she needed in the top of the second when the Raiders' Hannah Wassmann homered over the fence in center with two outs.   The Raiders then tacked on three insurance runs in the top of the third, ending the day for Dominican's Michele Behrens (Frankfort, Ill.) who fell short in her bid for her 11^th victory of the season.  Dominican then turned the game over to Locher, who allowed a pair of inherited runners to score before tossing five innings and surrendering just two hits and no earned runs.
 
Game Two:  Dominican 6, MSOE 5
 
Trailing 5-2 heading into the bottom of the fifth, Rea lined a leadoff single to left field.  Freshman Marissa Burns (Shorewood, Ill.) followed with a single on a swinging bunt.  Armani Procter (Chicago, Ill.) pushed the runners over on a ground out to second before Siena Gyure (Crown Point, Ind.) laced a single through the right side of the infield to score Rea and Burns and pull the Stars within a run, 5-4.
 
After Locher tossed a one-two-three sixth, the Stars' bats went back to work, with Rea lining a double through the Raiders' defensive shift to score Domico and Ali Woitovich (Downers Grove, Ill.) to take a 6-5 lead.
 
Locher then picked up the win, erasing a leadoff single for the Raiders with a 6-4-3 double play to end the game.
 
Locher improved to 8-5 in the circle, tossing three innings in relief of Sarah Slouber (Willow Springs, Ill.) in game two.  Locher allowed just two runs on four hits while walking none and striking out two.
 
Offensively, Rea, Gyure, Domico and Woitovich collected two hits apiece as the Stars rapped out ten hits all game.