SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican softball split with Academy of Art on the first day of a crucial series between the two rivals in the PacWest Northern California Pod. The Penguins (12-14, 11-7 PacWest) edged out the 2-1 victory in the first game, while the Urban Knights (12-10, 11-7 PacWest) held off a late rally for the 6-4 victory in the Friday's second game at Mission Blue Field.

Sophomore pitcher Shelby Keltner was magnificent from the circle limiting ART U to four hits and one earned run while striking out six to move her record to 6-7 on the year. Senior infielder Mady Christensen went 3-for-6 from the plate with two RBI and a double to lead Dominican from the plate. Senior outfielder Vanessa Porto added 5-for-8 performance from the leadoff spot.

Game One
Sophomore outfielder Peyton Mott doubled to deep left center with two outs and a runner on first to get the Penguins the 1-0 lead in the first inning. Sophomore shortstop Lauren Lapinid followed up with a single up the middle to plate Mott for the 2-0 lead to keep the two-out rally going. Sophomore outfielder Shelby Cefalu and Christensen each walked to load the bases before Hanna Rose Balke (6-6) finally escaped the inning as Gabi Hirsch caught a fly ball in left for the final out of the inning.

The Urban Knights closed the gap to one in the bottom of the second as Chelsea Sligh walked and Cailee Grayhorse-Pupecki doubled to right center to bring her around the bases. Keltner locked ART U down after that catching the next two batters swinging to end the inning. 

The Urban Knights had a chance to tie in the bottom of the fourth with the bases loaded and two outs, but this time Keltner caught the batter looking for the inning-ending strikeout. In the bottom of the sixth, it was the Penguin defense that came through for Keltner. With runners on first and second, Lapinid fielded a groundball at short and quickly flipped it to Christensen at second who turned and threw to senior Aly Waltman at first for the double play, ending the final ART U scoring chance.

Game two 
The Urban Knights flipped the script and got out to the early lead in the second game as Haley Randall homered down the left-field line for the 2-0 lead. Cecilia Lopez added to the lead as she tripled to right field to bring in Bethany Mitchell to make it a 3-0 margin in the bottom of the third. 

Dominican finally cracked Lopez's pitching as Cefalu singled through the left side to bring in Mott from second. Christensen singled to center and sophomore catcher Celeste Salas placed a blooper in between the pitcher and short to bring Cefalu home to cut the lead to 3-2.

The momentum was short lived as Lauryn Henderson singled to right center to bring in a runner from third and Sligh singled to center to score Henderson from second to extend the lead back to three. Grayhorse-Pupecki doubled and Henderson singled to right center to add a run in the sixth for the 6-2 lead. 

Dominican took advantage of a pair of errors with Cefalu reaching base on a hit by pitch to load the bases and bring the tying run to the plate in the top of the seventh. Christensen delivered a single to left to bring in two runs and trim the lead to 6-4. Salas singled to left to load the bases once again, but Lopez struck out the final batter of the game to preserve the victory.

The Penguins will return to the diamond Saturday to finish its season series with the Urban Knights in a doubleheader beginning at noon PDT. Live coverage information will be available on the schedule page.