Freshman Sydney Kuderna (Naperville, Ill.) picked up wins in both ends of a doubleheader as the Dominican University softball team swept the Concordia University Chicago Cougars at the Ballpark at Rosemont on Wednesday night to move to 6-2 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) and 15-8 overall.  Kuderna, now 7-0 in the circle in her rookie season, tossed a complete game in the series opener before coming out of the bullpen and giving up just one hit over the final three innings in the nightcap.
 
The Stars will look to keep rolling this weekend, traveling to Rockford on Saturday for a doubleheader with the Rockford University Regents before continuing up to Madison, Wisconsin, for a Sunday series at Edgewood College.  First pitch both days is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.
 
Game One: Dominican 2, Concordia Chicago 1
 
Kuderna scattered ten hits and one walk over seven innings while only surrendering one and striking out two.  The freshman lefty pitched around leadoff singles in each of the first three innings and then worked through a pair of errors in the fourth to keep the Cougars off the board through five innings.
 
Meanwhile, the Stars offense managed just two hits in the game but capitalized on a Concordia error to score a pair of runs in the bottom of the third.  Sara Hausl (St. Charles, Ill.) yanked a double down the third base line with one out for Dominican's first hit of the game.  A strikeout later, Ali Woitovich (Downers Grove, Ill.) popped to right but the Cougars' rightfielder had the ball pop in and out of her glove on the run allowing Hausl to come around while Woitovich cruised into second.  Alyssa Domico (Naperville, Ill.) then traded places with Woitovich when she doubled deep to centerfield, giving Kuderna the two runs she needed to work with.
 
In the top of the sixth, the Cougars got the leadoff hitter on for the fourth time in the game when Michele Alexander singled to start the frame.  After a fielder's choice and a flyout, Allison Kruk and Stefanie D'Anna delivered back-to-back two-out hits to plate Emily Owens.  Kuderna was able to limit the damage when Melissa Balkema flew out to center, stranding the tying and go ahead runs.  For the Cougars, the stranded runners were the ninth and tenth runners left on base in the game.
 
After the Stars went down in order in the bottom of the sixth, Kuderna returned to the circle to nail down the win.  The freshman again was able to work around a leadoff single, stranding the Cougars' 11^th runner of the game.
 
Kuderna used 116 pitches in the win and did not allow any extra-base hits, lowering her team-best earned run average to 1.76 in the process.
 
Game Two: Dominican 9, Concordia Chicago 4
 
Trailing 4-3 going to the bottom of the sixth, Woitovich sparked a six-run rally when the sophomore led off the inning with a home run to left, her first of the season, to even the game.  After a groundout, the next five hitters all reached for Dominican, including an RBI single by Abby Maike (Savanna, Ill.), who went 2-for-3, and a two-run double by Gabby Curran (Elmhurst, Ill.) and has now driven in 15 runs in 15 games.  A pop out later, Marissa Burns (Shorewood, Ill.) capped the rally, tacking on a couple of insurance runs with a single to left-center.
 
Working in relief of Michele Behrens (Frankfort, Ill.), Kuderna then nailed down the victory in the top of the seventh, working around a two-out walk and a single.  Coming on in the fifth, the two runners in the seventh were the only hitters to reach base off Kuderna in three innings of work.
 
After just two hits in game one, the Stars' pounded out 12 hits in game two.  Hausl, Catherine Conte (Elmwood Park, Ill.), Gabi Alfaro (Aurora, Ill.) and Maike collected two hits apiece while Curran and Burns tallied two RBI each.