The Dominican University softball team opened Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) play on Sunday evening at the Ballpark in Rosemont, sweeping a series from the Wisconsin Lutheran College Warriors. The Stars rallied for a 4-2 win in game one behind a complete-game effort from junior right-hander
Cat Klostermann before clobbering the Warriors in game two, 10-2 in five innings.
With the wins Dominican improves to 11-7 on the season with a weekend road trip to Wisconsin next weekend for a Saturday twin bill at Marian University followed by Sunday doubleheader at Lakeland.
Game One: Dominican 4, WLC 2
Klostermann surrendered just two runs on three hits and two walks in the game one win but the Stars found themselves trailing 2-0 after four and a half innings before the Dominican bats came to life.
Gabby Curran ripped a one-out single to spark the rally.
Alyssa Stuart followed with a single to put runners at first and second. An out later,
Hannah Gordon lined a two-out double that one-hopped the fence in left, scoring Curran. After a walk,
Cecilia Winters McCarthy delivered what proved to be the game-winning hit when she singled up the middle, plating both Stuart and Gordon to give the Stars a 3-2 lead after five.
After Klostermann worked around a leadoff single in the top of the sixth, stranding the tying run at third, the Stars tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the frame. Curran again jump-started the offense, beating out an infield single and then stealing second. The senior then came around to score when Stuart reached on an error.
Klostermann then worked around a walk and a hit batter in the top of the seventh, improving to 5-5 on the season with her second complete-game effort of the season.
Offensively, the Stars managed seven hits, two apiece for Curran, Gordon and Winters McCarthy.
Game Two: Dominican 10, WLC 2
The Warriors struck first in the nightcap, scoring in the top of the first but saw their rally cut short when
Maddie Sniegolski gunned down Karah Ritacco at the plate when she tagged from third on a fly ball to centerfield.
Dominican took advantage of a Warriors' miscue in the field to even the score, 1-1, after the first. The Stars then took the lead with a three-run third. Stuart rolled a single up the middle with the bases loaded, giving the Stars a 3-1 lead before Sniegolski added a run with a sacrifice fly later in the inning.
The Stars then broke the game open in the bottom of the fourth, plating five runs on five hits.
Alena Valenzuela started the rally with a lead-off, pinch-hit single through the right side of the infield. Curran followed with a single before Winters McCarthy,
Sydney Kuderna and Gordon all logged back-to-back-to-back run-scoring singles. Stuart then drove in her third run of the game with a sac fly before
Kenna Pierceall capped the five-run rally when she grounded out to short, allowing Gordon to score.
The Warriors scratched out a run in the top of the fifth before Winters McCarthy put the game out of reach with an RBI single following a one-out triple by Curran.
Allyson Dilday picked up the win in the circle, improving to 4-1 on her freshman campaign. The rookie right-hander allowed just two runs on five hits and five walks while striking out two over the five innings.
Offensively the Stars picked up 12 hits, including three each for the Stars' one, two, three hitters, Curran, Winters McCarthy and Kuderna.
