KANEOHE, Hawai'i – Dominican softball closed its Hawaiian road trip Tuesday afternoon with 6-0 and 8-0 losses to Hawai'i Pacific University at Howard Okita Field.
 
The Penguins (5-14, 4-14 PacWest) finished with seven hits compared to the Sharks' (24-16, 17-8 PacWest ) 23 on the day. Junior infielder Mady Christensen continued her hitting streak as the Penguins' spark in the box, going 3-for-7 on the day, to improve her batting average to .317 on the season. 
 
HPU was led by starter Emilee Leonard, pitching a shutout in the first game, and backing up her performance in the circle with a 5-for-6 outing at the plate, with one run and an RBI. Sierra Dias also went 5-for-6 from the plate, with a two runs and an RBI. Jordan Curry earned the win in the second game, allowing two hits in four innings and striking out five.
 
Game 1
 
The Sharks got to work early in the bottom of the third as Tiana Cantero-Kawelo doubled down the right-field line on the first pitch, and Dias followed with a single through the right side to bring her across the plate. With two outs, Leonard singled to left and Brandi Leong doubled to score two more and extend HPU's lead to 3-0. Mary Dungey kept the momentum rolling for the Sharks, singling up the middle to bring home Leong for the 4-0 lead. 
 
Leonard continued to hold the Penguins at bay on offense allowing HPU to increase its lead again in the fourth inning. Curran drew a lead-off walk and advanced on a sacrifice bunt from Cantero-Kawelo. Dias singled through the right side and Noel Saunders followed suit, sending a ball into shallow right to bring in Curran for the 5-0 advantage. Leonard added to her advantage with a single up the middle to make it 6-0.
 
Game 2
 
The Sharks ran with their momentum from the first game as Dias tripled to right field and Saunders singled for the 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. HPU then added to its advantage in the bottom of the second as Kaui hammered a leadoff double to center field, and a sacrifice bunt from Miki Takara moved her to third. Curran singled through the left side to score one and Cantero-Kawelo hit another single to keep the rally alive. The Penguins ended the bases loaded jam as Saunders lined out to Karitza Reyes at short, who threw it to third to catch Curran off the base to end the inning. 
 
HPU remained consistent at the plate in the bottom of the third inning as Curry homered to left field to score two and extend the lead to four. A walk and back-to-back errors allowed the Sharks to tag on three more runs to make it 7-0.
 
Curran led off the bottom of the fifth inning beating out a ground ball to the shortstop and stole second to put the game-ending run into scoring position. After Cantero-Kawelo popped up to center for the first out, Dungey sent a ball into left field bring home Curran for the sweep. 
 
The Penguins will return home Thursday to face Sonoma State at 1 p.m. PST. Live stats will be available online.