In their morning matchup with Wilmington College on Monday in Fort Myers, Florida, the Dominican University Stars rallied for three runs in the top of the seventh but stranded ten runners throughout the game, falling to the Wilmington College Quakers, 5-3.
 
The loss drops the Stars to 2-1 on the season with a second game on Monday scheduled for 3:00 p.m. ET at CenturyLink Sports Complex.
 
Both teams had chances early, including the Stars loading the bases in the top of the first inning that saw Sara Hausl (St. Charles, Ill.) double to the fence in right center on her first at-bat of the season.  Two walks later, Dominican left the bases loaded when Wilmington's Becca Carpenter induced a groundball to escape the inning unscathed.
 
In the Wilmington half of the first, Dominican's Michele Behrens (Frankfort, Ill.) pitched out of a one-out jam with runners at second and third when Hausl snared Sydney Kelly's groundball along the third baseline and was able to tag the runner at third before firing across the diamond for the double play.
 
Wilmington stranded another runner at third in the second inning but finally broke through when Kelly punched a ball through the left side of the infield for a two-run single in the bottom of the third.
 
Dominican only managed to have two runners reach second from the second inning through the fifth while Wilmington pushed across a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the fourth to open a 4-0 lead.
 
Dominican's Catherine Conte (Elmwood Park, Ill.) led off the top of the sixth with a double to the fence in left but was stranded there as Carpenter retired the next three hitters in the frame.
 
After Wilmington added another unearned run in the bottom of the sixth to open a 5-0 lead, freshman Gabi Alfaro (Aurora, Ill.) reached on a leadoff walk in the top of the seventh and then went first-to-third when Wilmington committed a throwing error on Hausl's attempt to bunt her way on, putting runners at the corners with nobody out for the Stars.
 
Dominican looked like it would strand two more runners when Marissa Burns (Shorewood, Ill.) popped out to short and Armani Procter (Chicago, Ill.) grounded into a fielder's choice with Hausl erased on the play for interfering with the Quakers' second baseman.
 
With two out, Alyssa Domico (Naperville, Ill.) delivered an RBI double down the left field line and Conte followed with a two-run triple to the gap in right-center to bring the tying run to the plate.  Wilmington's Carpenter then closed out the complete-game effort when she got Ali Woitovich (Downers Grove, Ill.) to pop out to end the game.
 
Dominican managed seven hits total, led by Hausl and Conte.  Hausl went 3-for-4 with a double while Conte went 2-for-4 with a double, a triple and two runs batted in.
 
Behrens was charged with the loss, allowing two runs on six hits and one walk in three innings of work.  Haley Locher (Lisle, Ill.), worked the final three innings of the game for the Stars, allowing three unearned runs on four hits and one walk.