SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican softball dropped a pair of pitching duels Thursday with Concordia University Irvine claiming a 2-0 victory in the first game with University of Hawai'i at Hilo taking a 4-0 decision in the second game at Penguin Field. The Penguins (17-19) ended the Pacific West Conference Automatic Qualifier Pod Series with a 1-3 record.

Senior utility Alyssa Waltman held the Eagles (30-11) in check for much of the first game allowing one earned run in a complete game of work for Dominican. Sophomore pitcher Shelby Keltner kept the Vulcans (17-11) scoreless through six frames until Hilo exploded for four runs in the top of the seventh.

 Neither team could get much going in the early part of the first game. CUI's best scoring chance in the first four innings came when Riley Rohr led off the bottom of the third with a single and made her way to third on a sac bunt and a Megan Johnson single. Megan Massa then sent a groundball to first but senior Mady Christensen made a perfect throw to sophomore Celeste Salas at the plate to catch Rohr and keep the game scoreless.

Rohr tripled to right to lead off the bottom of the fifth, but back-to-back groundouts to second kept her stuck at third. Massa also grounded to second but an errant throw allowed the Eagles to grab the 1-0 lead. They added a second run after Jocelyn Pino doubled to center to bring in Missy Nemeth from first with two outs in the bottom of the sixth. 

The second game was much like the first with Keltner and the Penguin defense executing to keep Hilo off the scoreboard for six innings. The Dominican offense though was unable to string together hits to get on the board themselves. Nikki Zielinski broke the scoreless tie with a solo shot on the first pitch she saw in the top of the seventh and Angel Prewitt tripled down the right-field line to plate two more before coming home on a sacrifice fly for the final margin.