The Dominican University softball team opened Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) play with a doubleheader victory over the MSOE Raiders in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Sunday afternoon. The Stars held on for a 4-3 win in game one behind 5.2 solid innings in the circle from senior
Haley Locher (Lisle, Ill.) and then outslugged the Raiders in game two for a 9-7 win.
The Stars, now 12-6 on the season, return to the diamond on Monday, traveling to Mequon, Wisconsin, to take on the Concordia University Wisconsin Falcons. First pitch is slated for 3:00 p.m.
Game One: Dominican 4, MSOE 3 Locher limited the Raiders to three runs over 5.2 innings before freshman
Sydney Kuderna (Naperville, Ill.) slammed the door for her first save of the season. The freshman left-hander pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the sixth before tossing a 1-2-3 seventh to preserve the win. Kuderna fanned two of the four hitters she faced in the game.
Scoreless through four innings, the Stars woke their bats in the top of the fifth, plating four runs on five hits and a pair of Raiders' miscues. Freshman
Gabby Curran (Elmhurst, Ill.) opened the scoring when she doubled to right-center to score
Abby Maike (Savanna, Ill.) from first. After a sacrifice bunt, Curran came across when
Marissa Burns (Shorewood, Ill.) singled down the third-base line. After a Stars' single,
Alyssa Domico (Naperville, Ill.) plated a pair of runs when she doubled to the gap in left-center.
MSOE pulled within a run in the sixth with a three-run, two-out rally. Callie Wrightman snapped the shutout when she doubled with runners at first at second. Beth Young and Laure Boyle followed with RBI singles to end the day for Locher and set the table for Kuderna's save.
Locher improved to 4-3 in the circle while MSOE' s Shannon Curtis took the loss to fall to 0-4.
At the plate,
Ali Woitovich (Downers Grove, Ill.), Domico and
Gabi Alfaro (Aurora, Ill.) finished with two hits apiece to pace the Stars.
Game Two: Dominican 9, MSOE 7 Dominican opened a 4-0 lead in the top of the first, pounding out four hits in the frame including a trio of doubles from Burns, Woitovich and
Armani Procter (Chicago, Ill.).
MSOE got a single run back in the bottom of the first and pulled within 4-2 with a run in the bottom of the third.
Dominican tacked on another four runs in the top of the fifth, including a two-run double off the bat of Sara Hausl that scored Curran and
Kaitlyn Tripp (Imperial, Mo.).
In the bottom of the fifth, Dominican committed a pair of errors leading to three unearned runs that trimmed the Stars' lead to 8-5.
Woitovich led off the top of the sixth with a solo home run, her first of the season, to add an insurance run while MSOE strung together three hits in the bottom of the inning to pull within two runs, 9-7.
After the Stars went down in order in the top of the seventh, Locher closed out the game with a 1-2-3 frame to pick up her first save of the season after getting the win in game one.
Michele Behrens (Frankfort, Ill.) picked up the win in relief for the Stars, working the middle 2.2 innings and giving up just two earned runs on seven hits.
Burns went 3-for-3 with two doubles in game two while Curran and Woitovich picked up two hits apiece.
