SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican softball earned its first doubleheader sweep of the season topping Biola 2-1 and 3-0 Tuesday afternoon at Penguin Field.

"Any team can win on any given day and today I feel like we came out ready to play," head coach Juliana Santos said. "I'm proud of my girls, we had a game plan for Paige [Austin] and they stuck to it and it worked. We knew our fielders were capable of making the plays and we've been working on moving through the ball and it really, really helped make a difference today."

Kathryn Caravalho earned her first victory of the year allowing one run on three hits in five innings of work. She was relieved by Shelby Keltner who allowed no runs on one hit in two innings of work for the save in the first game and then followed up by earning the victory in the second game after tossing three scoreless innings in relief in game two to move to 3-7 on the year for the Penguins (5-12, 2-6 PacWest). Faith Erb also made a huge impact on the game going 2-for-5 from the plate with a stolen base and two runs scored while making several great plays defensively at second base.

"I struggled a lot mentally my first two years here," Erb said. "Coming into this year, I've been a lot more open minded to failure and I feel like that has contributed to my success. I know I'm not going to be perfect every time, I just have to try my best with every pitch and every hit."

Game one
Caravalho and her defense started the game on a roll retiring the first six batters of the game, but Rilee Ruvalcaba found the gap in left center in the top of the third to move into scoring position for the Eagles (10-7, 5-3 PacWest). Allie Beck singled up the middle with two outs to bring her home for the 1-0 lead.

Peyton Mott singled to left to lead off the fourth inning and stole second to represent Dominican's first runner in scoring position. Alicia Garcia laced an 0-2 pitch back up the middle to bring her home and tie the game.

Caravalho retired the side in her final frame of work in the top of the fifth and Faith Erb kept the Penguins offense rolling as she led off the bottom of the inning with a single through the right side. Erb moved to second on a sacrifice bunt before Lauren Lapinid sent a long fly ball to the base of the fence in center for a stand-up double and bringing in the run for the 2-1 lead.

Keltner entered the circle in the top of the sixth and left one runner stranded before retiring the side in the top of the seventh on seven pitches to earn the save.

Game two
Rosa Leguria got the start in the second game and avoided an early bases-loaded jam with help from her defense as Lapinid grabbed a line drive for the second out and Erb made a diving grab at second for the final out of the inning. Melissa Garcia then singled and stole second to lead off the bottom of the frame before Keltner drove her home on a single to shallow right-center field to take the 1-0 lead.

Leguria allowed only one base runner over her next two innings of work, but Dominican was also unable to capitalize on a prime scoring opportunity in the bottom of the third. With runners on second and third with one out, Ruvalcaba held the runners on a ground ball before grabbing a popup at short to bail out her pitcher, Raylene Roybal.

Danielle Ramos singled on a hard-hit ball right back to the pitcher that deflected off Roybal's leg and away from the middle infield in the bottom of the fourth. Erb followed with a single past the diving glove of Ruvalcaba through the left side to put two on for the Penguins. After both runners advanced on a groundout, Lapinid came through again with the clutch hit as she singled to shallow center to bring the runners home for the 3-0 lead.

Madison Blossey singled to lead off the top of the fifth but got caught trying to get to third on a bunt single from Beck. Keltner then retired the next batter on a grounder to second before catching Jennifer Morinishi swinging for the final out of the frame. The Eagles once again looked to cut into the Dominican lead in the top of the sixth with back-to-back singles with one out, but Erb grabbed a line drive before making the routine catch on a popup to preserve the shutout. Keltner did not allow another baserunner as she retired the side in the top of the seventh to end the game.

Dominican will head to the islands of Hawaii next as it begins a long road trip at Chaminade on Sunday at noon HST at Sand Island Park.