KONA, Hawai'i – Dominican women's softball found a rhythm offensively on its second day of doubleheaders on the islands, but was unable to slow the University of Hawai'i at Hilo as it fell 10-7 and 8-0 Thursday afternoon at Kealakehe High School. 

Game 1

Senior infielder Karitza Reyes finished the game going 2-for-3 with a walk for the Penguins (3-8, 2-8 PacWest), while junior Mady Christensen stayed hot with a 2-for-4 day at the plate with two RBI. The Vulcans' (16-4, 11-1 PacWest) Leah Gonzales earned the win going 4.0 innings to move to 4-2 on the season.
 
Kiarra Lincoln and Maria Steadmon led off the bottom of the first for UH Hilo with a walk and single to put it in a good position to open, but Dominican retired the next two batters in an attempt to leave them stranded. Markie Okamoto stepped to the plate and doubled both runners home to give the Vulcans a 2-0 lead.

Freshman Peyton Mott started a rally for the Penguins in the top of the second with a lead-off single. She advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and stole third to move 60 feet from Dominican's first run of the game. Senior Dahlen Dennis singled up the middle on the next at bat to bring her in form third, while advancing into scoring position on an errant throw from the outfield. Vanessa Porto drew a walk to keep the rally alive and Christensen singled to plate Dennis for the tie. 

Cheek singled to once again give the Penguins some momentum to start an inning. Dennis followed by reaching on a fielding error of a sacrifice bunt to put two runners in scoring position with no outs. After Gonzales entered the game to retire the next batter, Christensen came through once again with a single to give Dominican its first lead of the series at 3-2. Dennis then crossed the plate on a wild pitch to extend the lead to two heading to the bottom of the frame. 

Kaleikini drew a walk to begin the bottom of the inning and made her way around the bases on some errant throws from the Penguins to cut the lead to one. The Vulcans then loaded the bases, but Waltman deflected a ball to Christensen for the final out of the inning to keep Dominican in front.

UH Hilo once again took advantage of Penguin miscues in the fifth to score three runs and regain the 6-4 lead. The Vulcans then pushed its advantage to 10-4 with four more runs in the sixth.
 
Dominican made one last attempt to get back into the game as junior McKenzie Schumacher and Reyes singled to lead off the top of the seventh. Sophomore Alyssa Ramirez doubled to bring home Schumacher and Reyes came home on an errant throw to cut the lead to four. Senior Alexis Chinchilla reached on an error to put runners on the corners and Cheek grounded out to the second to bring home Ramirez to bring the tying run into the on deck circle. That was the last run the Penguins would score on the day.


Game 2

It was all UH Hilo in the second game as Valerie Alvarado once again shut out the Penguins over six inning to move to 4-2 on the season. Liilii opened the scoring with a 2-run homer in the bottom of the first to get the Vulcans on the board early and then singled to left field to jump-start them in the bottom of the third. UH Hilo brought in three more runs in the inning without another hit, scoring on three walks and two wild pitches. 

The Vulcans continued to add in the bottom of the sixth inning as Chinen singled to center field and Lincoln followed with a walk. Liilii singled to right field to score Chinen and followed up by stealing second to advance into scoring position. Mejia singled to walk it off, scoring Lincoln from third to bring the game to an early conclusion.

The Penguins will look to enter back into the win column Friday as they face Chaminade University at 3:30 p.m. HST. Live audio and stats will be available online.