HILO, Hawai'i – Dominican softball fell 2-1 in eight innings before succumbing to its first run-rule defeat since the COVID shortened 2020 season 8-0 in the second game against University of Hawai'i at Hilo on Sunday afternoon.
Lauren Lapinid went 3-for-5 from the plate with an RBI for the Penguins (8-19, 5-13 PacWest) to lead the way while
Faith Erb added a 2-for-3 performance in the first game with a double and a run scored.
Shelby Keltner pitched effectively for 7.2 inning for Dominican, allowing three hits and one earned run, but took the loss from the circle.
Game One
Keltner opened the game by retiring the entire UHH lineup in order as Erb and
Lauren Lapinid grabbed the lone hits of the game over the first three frames, but neither was able to advance past first. Jayda Favela was hit by a pitch to lead off the fourth and then stole second before scoring on an error off a sacrifice bunt attempt to give the Vulcans the 1-0 lead.
Celeste Salas singled to center to lead off the fifth and pinch runner
Caitlyn Perales made her way to third on a sacrifice bunt and a fly ball, but she was left stranded there on a groundout to second. Erb then led off the top of the sixth with a double to left field, advancing to third on an error to move into prime position with no outs.
Jillian Lampa walked and Lapinid then singled on a shallow line drive to right field to bring in Erb for the 1-1 tie. After a popout resulted in the first out of the inning, a long fly out to right resulted in a double play as Lapinid was thrown out at second trying to advance on the play to end the threat.
Angel Prewitt gave the Vulcans the opening for the walk-off victory as she singled to left center to lead off the bottom of the eighth and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and a groundout. Skylar Thomas then delivered in the clutch sending a ball into shallow right with 2 outs to bring home Prewitt for the win.
Game two
Both teams put runners on first and second with two outs in their half of the first inning with the defense picking up a ground ball and throwing to first for the final out to lead the runners stranded. Chloe Domingo, Mari Kimoto and Nikki Zielinski all singled in the bottom of the second inning to quickly load the bases for UHH with no outs. Prewitt singled in one run before Brandee Chinen doubled to left to plate two more runs for the 3-0 lead.
Dominican continued to struggle from the plate allowing the Vulcans to extend their lead in the third inning as Domingo sent a towering ball over the left field fence for a 2-run home run to push the lead to five. Chinen then brought home another run with a single to center to make it 6-0 heading to the fourth.
After the pitchers ruled the fourth inning, Chinen followed a pair of singles with one of her own to left field to bring in yet another run and the final run of the game came home on a wild pitch to make it 8-0.
Dominican will conclude its trip Monday at UHH Softball Field in the final doubleheader of the series beginning at noon Hawaiian Time.
