SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican softball fell 5-3 and 10-1 in a doubleheader Thursday afternoon against No. 3 Concordia University Irvine at Penguin Field.
 
Melissa Garcia led the way from the plate for the Penguins (3-8, 0-2 PacWest) with a 4-for-8 day from the plate with two RBI, a double and a run. Kaitlin Entrup was the most effective pitcher for the Eagles (14-0, 2-0 PacWest) on the day allowing one run on five hits in a complete game victory to move to 5-0 on the season.
 
Game one
Dominican had the first opportunity to score in the opening game of the series as Melissa Garcia and Caitlyn Perales opened with a pair of singles, but Garcia was thrown out at third on Perales single through the right side for the first out of the inning. Erika Morris then worked her way out of the jam retiring the next two batters to leave Perales stranded at second.
 
Shelby Keltner and Morris continued the pitcher's duel for the next three innings with Lauren Lapinid singling through the left side to be the only batter to reach safely until the fifth inning. Lauren Lopez then opened the fifth with a bang as she hit a ball to deep center and raced around the bases for an inside the park home run to give CUI the 1-0 lead. The Eagles eventually loaded the bases Mia Saucedo driving in one run with a single and Sydney Sprinkly then clearing the bases with a double to make it 5-0.
 
Keltner and Faith Erb singled to lead off the bottom of the inning and Dominican loaded the bases as the Eagle shortstop missed third base on the throw trying to get the lead runner. Garcia hit a soft grounder to second to allow one run in, then Perales followed with a double to center field to knock in two more to cut the deficit to 5-3 before being thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a triple.
 
Dominican loaded the bases once again in the bottom of the sixth as Mott was hit by a pitch and Lapinid walked before Keltner singled to shallow center field, but relief pitcher Cortney Koelmans struck out the final two batters to leave the runners stranded and end the comeback attempt.
 
Game two
 
The Eagles found their bats in the second game as Shelli Faulk opened the scoring with a home run to straightway center field that also brought home Lopez who had walked in the previous at bat for the 2-0 lead in the second. Dominican looked to answer in the bottom of the third as Celeste Salas walked and Garcia singled to center to put runners on the corner with one out, but the Penguins were unable to cash in on the opportunity.
 
Riley Rohr then added a home run of her own out to left to make it 3-0 in the top of the fourth for the Eagles. CUI would add to its lead in the top of the sixth and seventh to amass a 10-0 lead before Garcia finally gave Dominican the clutch hit that had long eluded them to bring in Alicia Garcia from second base with a single to left center for the Penguins' lone run of the game.
 
Dominican will return to the diamond tomorrow for the final day of the series beginning the doubleheader with the Eagles at noon PST.