SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — The Dominican University of California softball team's split a PacWest doubleheader with Notre Dame de Namur on Friday, dropping game one 15-5 and winning the nightcap 8-3.

The Penguins scored the game's first run in the bottom of the first when Tori Johnson scored on a wild pitch. Dominican's early lead held until NDNU went ahead ahead thanks to a three-run fourth. The Penguins had a chance to come right back in the bottom half of the inning but Johnson was caught looking with the bases loaded. The Argonauts used that swing in momentum to blow the score open in the fifth inning with six runs on five hits. With the score 9-1 and the Penguins facing the run rule, senior Leslie Mesa led off the bottom of the fifth with her first career home run to keep things alive for the Penguins. However, NDNU put up another six-spot in the top of the seventh. The Penguins pieced together a three-run rally in the bottom of the seventh. Katelyn Harden scored on a Taylor Munoz single up the middle and Catlyn Cavender and Munoz both came in to score on a pair of wild throws.

While that seventh-inning rally wasn't enough to salvage game one, the Penguins' warm bats got hot in game two. Dominican busted out for 14 hits. Dominican took a 2-0 lead and answered an NDNU run in the second with two runs in the bottom half of the inning to take a 4-1 lead. Catlyn Cavender led off the bottom of the fifth with an opposite-field home run, her team-leading ninth home run, which also set a new-single season record for the program. An error in the sixth allowed a pair of NDNU runs to score but Dominican answered yet again, this time plating three runs on four hits in the bottom half of the sixth to make it 8-3. Harden retired the Argonauts in order in the seventh to pick up her sixth victory.

As a team, Dominican hit .368 on the day with 21 hits, including five extra base hits. Mesa went 4-for-5 with two runs scored, two runs batted in, and three sacrifice hits. Cavender went 3-for-6 with three runs, two runs batted in, and a pair of walks. Munoz went 3-for-7 with three runs batted in and a walk. Harden went 3-for-8 with a run.

Dominican hosts Academy of Art on Saturday, April 4. First pitch of the PacWest doubleheader is slated for 12 p.m. A Chilly's Cove reception will be held in the outfield for Dominican alumni, parents, and donors. Live stats will be available at dominicanathletics.com/live and radio.dominican.edu will have the play-by-play call.