Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — The Dominican University of California women's softball team split a Pacific West Conference doubleheader with Academy of Art University on Thursday at McInnis Park.

Junior pitcher Karly Harris (6-19) outdueled Kimberly Dauer (6-19) as the Lady Penguins (8-38/1-21) held on for a 3-1 game one victory over the Urban Knights (13-26/9-13). Despite being limited to just four hits and stranding seven baserunners, Dominican made the most of its opportunities. In the first inning, sophomore shortstop Kayla Rodriguez drew a leadoff walk with the count full. She stole second, then came all the way home when a perfectly laid sacrifice bunt by freshman outfielder Tori Johnson was thrown away. However, Dominican left the bases loaded and Art U tied it in the top of the second at 1-1. Dominican rallied right back in the bottom of the second to retake the lead for good. Rodriguez reached on a fiedler's choice, and stole second again. Two batters later, sophomore third baseman Leslie Mesa drove her home with a single down the left field line.

From there, Harris retired 15 of 16 batters, with the one reaching on an error. The Lady Penguins added a run in the sixth with a pinch-hit single up the middle by freshman Ashlyn Moriarity.

In game two, Art U struck for three runs in the first, then added a fourth run in the second. A Mesa sacrifice fly got Dominican on the board in the third but the Urban Knights added another pair of runs right back in the fourth inning. In the bottom of the fourth, the Lady Penguins broke out for three runs to cut the lead to 6-4 but were unable to make anything happen with the bases loaded and no outs, and Dominican managed just one hit the rest of the way.

Mesa continues to lead Dominican with a .323 batting average and upped her hits on the season to a team-best 41. Rodriguez, who entered the day tied for sixth in the PacWest in stolen bases per game, swiped three bases on the day and was caught once for just the second time this season. She now has a team-high 21 stolen bases.

Dominican will finish its home schedule at the College of Marin Softball Field in Kentfield. The Lady Penguins host Notre Dame de Namur on Saturday, April 13. First pitch of that PacWest doubleheader is slated for 1:00 p.m. Live stats will be available at www.dominicanathletics.com/live.