Dominican University freshman Cat Klostermann continued her dominant rookie season, tossing a complete-game, three-hit shutout against the Aurora University Spartans as the Stars took game one of the doubleheader, 2-0, before falling in the nightcap, 9-1.
 
"Cat has been nothing short of phenomenal for us the last few weeks," said Cristina Lukas, the Stars' head coach. "Today we hit the ball hard in game one without much to show for it. Now we need to become more consistent with our approach at the plate as we head into the stretch run of the season with just two regular season games remaining and hopefully a deep postseason run."
 
Klostermann got all the runs she needed in the top of the fourth as Dominican strung together three hits and capitalized on a Spartans' error in the field.  Sophomore Abby Maike led off the inning with a single to left before the Aurora miscue put runners at first and second.  Ali Woitovich followed with an infield single to load the bases and Maike then scored on a wild pitch.  After a pair of strikeouts, Jacadi Rivera delivered a two-out single to left to plate Gabi Alfaro to give the Stars a two-run advantage.
 
Klostermann never allowed a runner past second base and limited the Spartans to just five base runners all game, retiring the final eight hitters of the game in order.
 
The Stars managed five hits in the game one win, including two apiece for Woitovich and Rivera.
 
With the win, Klostermann improves to 11-2 in the circle and lowers her Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) leading earned run average to a miniscule 0.94.
 
With Klostermann out of the circle in game two, the Spartans' bats heated up, roughing up the Stars for nine runs on 12 hits, including four extra-base hits.
 
Sydney Kuderna took the loss, falling to 13-6 on the season.
 
The split pushes the Stars' overall record to 28-10 overall with one NACC series remaining, a doubleheader with the Benedictine University Eagles slated for Saturday at 12:00 p.m. in Lisle, Illinois.  The Stars need just one win to secure their spot in the 2017 NACC Tournament.