SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — The Dominican University of California softball team dropped a PacWest doubleheader to No. 23 Azusa Pacific on Monday, 7-1 and 5-0.
Dominican (18-31/15-15 PacWest) was limited to two hits by Azusa Pacific (36-10/23-5 PacWest) starter Narissa Garcia (13-3), who went the distance.
Alexis Chinchilla and
Karitza Reyes recorded back-to-back singles up the middle to avoid the no-hitter. That didn't leave much wiggle room for Dominican starter
Ashlyn Moriarity, who surrendered five runs in three innings of work.
Katelyn Harden allowed a pair of runs in four innings of relief.
Moriarity gave up two runs in the second but limited the damage when she got two-time PacWest Player of the Year Nicki Sprague to fly out with the bases loaded. The first-place Cougars extended their lead with a three-run third thanks to a Kayla Jimenez RBI single and Janelle Eccles two-run homer. Dominican loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth inning but a foul out ended the rally. In the fifth,
Tori Johnson reached on an error by Sprague, and scored on an errror after a single by
Katelyn Harden skipped past left fielder Illiana Jimenez. Eccles doubled home a pair in the seventh for some extra insurance.
In game two, the Cougars grabbed a quick 1-0 lead in the first thanks to a Sprague home run.
Tori Johnson and
Katelyn Harden both reached base in the bottom half of the inning and executed a double steal to get to second and third with one out but were both left stranded. Kayla Jimenez doubled the lead in the second with a homer of her own. A Cayla Broussard RBI single in the fifth made it 3-0 and two more runs in the seventh put the game out of reach. Carly Xepoleas (14-5) allowed just three hits in six innings for work to pick up the win for the Cougars.
Gaby Katafias (6-8) endured the loss in a complete-game effort for the Penguins but saw her ERA lower to 2.73.
The Penguins still have a chance to finish with a winning record in PacWest play. Dominican has one doubleheader remaining this season, on Saturday, April 30, versus Academy of Art. First pitch is slated for 12 and 2 p.m. That is also Senior Day and there will be a pregame ceremony honoring Dominican's four seniors —
Marissa Cordisco, Johnson,
Sarah McKenzie, and Moriarity. Live stats will be available at
dominicanathletics.com/live with live audio provided by the student broadcasters of Penguin Radio at
radio.dominican.edu.
