The Dominican University softball team rallied for a 6-4 win over the Concordia University Chicago Cougars in the opening round of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Tournament on Thursday afternoon before letting a 5-4 lead slip away late against the top-seeded Aurora University Spartans in a 6-5 loss later in the evening. 
 
With the split, the Stars enter day two of the double-elimination NACC Tournament with no room for error.  Dominican will return to the diamond at Alverno Field in Milwaukee at third-seeded Concordia University Wisconsin Falcons at 11:00 a.m. with the winner turning around for a 1:00 p.m. game and the loser heading home.
 
Game One:  Dominican 6, Concordia Chicago 4
 
Trailing 4-0 in the top of the sixth inning, the Stars sent 11 hitters to the plate, pushing across six runs on five hits, two HBPs and one walk.  Freshman Marissa Burns (Shorewood, Ill.), the NACC leader in batting average after the regular season, started the frame as she was by a 3-2 pitch.  One batter later, Armani Procter (Chicago, Ill.) singled through the left side of the infield.  Catherine Conte (Elmwood Park, Ill.) then worked a five-pitch walk to load the bases.  Alyssa Domico (Naperville, Ill.) then delivered a two-run single to cut the Stars' deficit in half.
 
Following a Cougars' pitching change and a strikeout for out number two of the inning, Allie Evans (Greenwood, Ind.) singled to center to plate both Domico and Conte and even the score at 4-4.  Ashley Rea (Lockport, Ill.) and Sara Hausl (St. Charles, Ill.) followed with RBI singles to close out the frame and stake Haley Locher (Lisle, Ill.) to a two-run lead in the circle.
 
Locher, who entered in the fifth in relief of Michele Behrens (Frankfort, Ill.), wrapped up the win, allowing just a two-out single in the bottom of the sixth before retiring the Cougars in order in the seventh to move to 9-5 on the season in the circle.  Over 2 2/3 innings of work, Locher blanked the Cougars, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out two.
 
Offensively, the Stars collected eight hits, led by Rea, Domico and Evans who had two hits apiece.
 
Game Two:  Aurora 6, Dominican 5
 
After allowing a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth to fall behind for the first time all game, 4-3, Ali Woitovich (Downers Grove, Ill.) blasted her second home run of the season and drove in her 13^th and 14^th runs of the year to put the Stars back on top 5-4 heading into the bottom of the sixth.
 
However, the Spartans and the NACC Player of the Year, Mandy Schrader, answered with back-to-back home runs to lead off the bottom of the sixth to reclaim the lead.  Schrader led off the inning, belting a 2-2 pitch from Locher over the fence in left center to knot the game at 5-5.  Two pitches later, Logan Cahill blasted a shot to the same spot Schrader did for what proved to be the game-winning run.
 
Dominican took an early 2-0 lead on single runs in the first and second innings.  In the first, Kaitlyn Tripp (Imperial, Mo.) plated Rea with an infield single.  Then in the second, it was Evans' turn to tally an RBI with an infield hit.
 
The Spartans got one run back on a sacrifice fly by Larkin Langston in the bottom of the third and then tied the game at 2-2 when Amie Raynor homered to center in the bottom of the fourth.
 
Procter gave the Stars the lead back with a bases loaded single in the top of the fifth.  In the bottom of the inning, Dominican committed a pair of errors to give the Spartans their first lead of the game.
 
However the lead was short lived as Domico led off the top of the sixth, working an eight-pitch walk to get aboard for Woitivich's blast off of Vanessa Hartzell, the NACC Pitcher of the Year.
 
In total, the Stars rapped out nine hits off Hartzell, two apiece for Rea and Evans, but Dominican stranded seven runners in the one-run loss.
 
Locher was tagged with the loss, tossing two-plus innings in relief of Olivia Babusci (Park Ridge, Ill.).  Locher than turned the ball over to Behrens who got three outs in the sixth, surrendering just one hit.  Babusci lasted three-plus innings, scattering six hits and surrendering two runs.