KANEOHE, Hawaii — The Dominican University of California softball team grabbed two early leads but settled for a split in a rain-soaked doubleheader at Hawai'i Pacific on Tuesday. Dominican took game one 6-3 and dropped game two 8-4.
Shannon Rodriguez provided early offense with an RBI single in the second and an RBI double in the fourth that staked the Penguins (7-14/5-5 PacWest) to an early 2-0 lead. In the fifth,
Katelyn Harden and Dennis Dahlen each drove home a run to double the lead to 4-0.
Keely Bowlan doubled home a run in the sixth and later scored on a
Catlyn Cavender single to make it 6-0.
Dominique Walker's bases-clearing double in the bottom of the sixth cut the lead in half, 6-3. With the bases loaded and the go-ahead run at the plate, Head Coach
Sarah Byrne moved Harden over from first base to pitch. The junior struck out Nicole Viena swinging to end the inning and shut down HPU (8-10/5-3 PacWest) the rest of the way.
Gaby Katafias (3-2) sailed through the first five innings, with her only blemish a result of Walker's double.
Dominican grabbed a 1-0 lead in game two on a Harden double to right center that plated Cavender. Walker's double down the left field line tied the game in the bottom half of the frame.
Dominican posted a crooked inning in the third with three unearned runs thanks to an errant throw by pitcher Alexis Morales. The lead held until the bottom of the fifth when things unraveled for the Penguins and HPU posted a crooked inning of its own. The Sharks cut the lead to 4-2 on a Kayla Sanchez RBI double and tied it on Britney Stevens' single back up the middle. Lauren Nicolosi worked a walk, which chased Dominican starter
Kelsey Goodner (0-5).
Ashlyn Moriarity entered in relief and got a ground ball but misplayed the ball. That not only allowed the go-ahead run to score but kept the inning alive, which resulted in three more runs.
Harden, Rodriguez, Dennis Dahlen, and
Tori Johnson all had three hits on the day. Cavender, Dennis, Harden, Johnson all scored twice. Harden had three RBI and Rodriguez had a pair.
Dominican will close out its 10-game road trip through Hawaii on the North Shore of Hawai'i with a pair of doubleheaders at BYU-Hawaii on Friday, March 11 and Saturday, March 12.
