Tournament of Champions Page

TURLOCK, Calif. – After a tough loss in the opening game of the Tournament of Champions on Friday, the Dominican University of California softball team bounced back with a thrilling 5-3 victory over Simon Fraser in extra innings.
 
It's the start of a busy weekend for the Penguins, who have completed two games out of the six scheduled at Stanislaus State. Dominican was dealt an 8-0 defeat by Northwest Nazarene on Friday afternoon before topping SFU in an evening matchup.
 
To close out Friday's action for Dominican, sophomore Haley Cheek provided the game-winning RBI in the top of the eighth inning as the Penguins went on to defeat Simon Fraser.
 
On Saturday, Dominican will take on two more Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) opponents - Concordia (Ore.) at 10 a.m. and then Montana State Billings at 3 p.m.

Game One: Crusaders 8, Penguins 0

The Dominican offense was stifled by the NNU starting pitcher Rylee Thomas, who allowed just one hit through her six innings pitched. Penguins' pitcher Gaby Katafias limited the Crusaders to just two runs through the first four innings but NNU broke through for five runs in the top of the fifth. 

Dominican's lone hit of the game came in the bottom of the fifth, when Karitza Reyes singled to first base.
 
Game Two: Penguins 5, Clan 3
 
Dominican actually trailed 3-2 heading into hits final at-bat in the top of the seventh, making the extra-inning victory even more dramatic. The two squads started the game by trading runs through the first few innings.

SFU got on the board first with a single run in the opening inning. The Penguins bounced back in the top of the second when Alexis Chinchilla contributed an RBI hit that brought in Cheek.

After the designated home team seized the lead once again in the bottom of the third, Dominican rallied to even the score 2-2 in the top of the fourth. This time, the Penguins took advantage of an error on the SFU shortstop and Cheek scored her second run of the contest.

Simon Fraser established a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fourth and it remained that score until Dominican rallied again in the top of the seventh. It proved to be a team effort as the Penguins manufactured the game-tying score. McKenzie Schumacher opened with a leadoff single and then Alyssa Lanza followed with a bunt single. Catlyn Cavender provided a sacrifice bunt to move the runners and then Dahlen Dennis knocked a sacrifice fly to center and then Schumacher raced home.

Bowlan helped set up the decisive rally in the eighth inning as she placed a sacrifice bunt down to move Reyes over to third. Cheek's RBI hit followed and later, Chinchilla doubled in a run to give the Penguins' margin some extra cushion.

Katelyn Harden put together a tremendous outing on the mound for Dominican. She went the full eight innings, allowing just six hits and two earned runs. She struck out seven batters along the way. The result marked Harden's 10th win of the season.