BRISBANE, Calif. – Dominican softball split Saturday with Academy of Art, dropping the first game 7-3 before rebounding for the 8-7 victory in game two at Mission Blue Field.
 
Senior utility Alyssa Waltman earned the victory for the Penguins (8-8, 7-5 PacWest) with a complete game in the second game while going 2-for-3 at the plate with a double and three runs scored. Senior third baseman Alyssa Ramirez added a 3-for-4 performance in the second game with a home run and three RBI.
 
Game one
After Gabi Hirsch singled on a bunt to lead off the game, Waltman grabbed a pop up on an attempted sacrifice bunt and flipped it to senior infielder Mady Christensen at first to clear the bases for Dominican. Sophomore pitcher Kathryn Caravalho then retired the final batter with a strikeout to keep them off the board. ART U did strike first as Haley Randall homered to left center in the bottom of the second to take a 1-0 lead.
 
Sophomore catcher Celeste Salas singled on a pop fly to shallow center to reach safely in the top of the fourth with sophomore Faith Erb entering to pinch run for her. Erb then stole second and came home as a throw to first went high to tie the game. Sophomore outfielder Peyton Mott then doubled to left and sophomore infielder Bella Roman singled to right center to bring in two more runs as the Penguins took the 3-1 lead. Lauryn Henderson got one run back for the Urban Knights in the bottom of the frame with a solo shot to left. With two runners on and one out, Alyssa Brundage doubled to right center to bring in two more runs and retake the lead for ART U 4-3. Dominican's pitching staff worked their way out of the jam with sophomore pitcher Shelby Keltner struck out the final batter looking to leave runners stranded at second and third to end the inning.
 
After ART U opened the bottom of the fifth with back-to-back singles, Randall homered to left for the second time of the day to extend the lead to 7-3. Freshman pitcher Kailani Medina entered in relief and pitched two scoreless innings in her Penguin debut, but the offense was unable to generate any more runs.
 
Game two
Dominican got off to a strong start in the second game as senior outfielder Vanessa Porto singled and beat out the throw to second on a sacrifice bunt to put two runners on. After Mott laid down a sacrifice bunt the Urban Knight catcher scooped the ball but the throw to first hit Mott in the back allowing Porto to come home and put runners on the corners. Mott then stole second and an errant throw allowed Waltman to score for the 2-0 lead.
 
In the top of the third, Ramirez started a 2-out rally with a sharp single to left and sophomore shortstop Lauren Lapinid doubled to deep left center to bring her home for the 3-0 lead. Hirsch, Bethany Mitchell and Henderson all singled in the bottom of the frame to score one run. Randall then flied out to right center to bring in Mitchell on a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 3-2 heading to the fourth.
 
After a scoreless fourth, Waltman doubled to the left-field fence and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt from Mott. Ramirez singled on the next at bat through the left side to bring in Waltman for the 4-2 lead. Lapinid then singled on a line drive that the shortstop could not handle to put runners on first and second with one out. Christensen drew a walk to load the bases before sophomore utility Danielle Ramos and freshman outfielder McKenna Daley were hit by pitches to bring in two more runs for the 6-2 lead. ART U got one run back when Henderson tripled with two outs in the bottom of the fifth and Randall followed with a single up the middle to make it 6-3.
 
Dominican's bats stayed hot in the sixth as Waltman singled to right and then Ramirez homered to left center to expand the lead to five. Errors hurt the Penguins in the final inning. Randall capped her great day from the plate with an RBI single to cut the deficit to 8-4 and then a fielding error with the bases loaded allowed two more runs in to cut the lead to two. Cassidy Kachnik singled to left to bring in one more before Romani scooped up a grounder at second and tossed it to first to end the game.
 
Dominican will return to the field Friday as it takes on Holy Names in a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. PDT at Mission Blue Field in Brisbane. Live coverage information will be available on our schedule page.