San Rafael, Calif. – Dominican University of California softball (17-27, 11-15 PacWest) swept the afternoon double header over Holy Names (9-31, 5-19 PacWest) on Saturday as the university also celebrated its academic excellence by being awarded the PacWest Academic award for the 10^th time in 12 years.
 
GAME ONE
 
A pitchers dual took place in the early innings, with neither pitcher allowing a run through the first three innings. Junior Shelby Kelter struck out all three batters in the opening inning en route to nine total strikeouts on the day. It took three innings for the Hawks to finally crack Keltner as they scored a pair of runs off a pair of singles and a double, bringing their lead to 2-0.
 
Dominican battled back in the fifth inning as sophomore Faith Erb lead off with a perfect bunt that resulted in her successful reaching of first base. Freshman Melissa Garcia then placed herself on first to put two runners on, followed by a Lauren Lapinid single to load the bases. Freshman Alicia Garcia then hit a sacrifice fly to right field, bringing home Melissa Garcia while cutting the Holy Names' lead in half.
 
A Hawks error led to the Penguins' second run of the inning, followed by another error that reloaded the bags. A Peyton Mott sacrifice fly gave the Penguins a 3-2 lead as the team found itself back in the game after a trio of gritty runs.
 
A pair of runners threatened in the early stages of the sixth inning, but three straight outs for Dominican meant the crisis was averted. The final inning started in similar fashion, but also in similar fashion, three straight outs would end the threat as Dominican earned its first victory of the day by a score of 3-2.
 
Melissa Garcia, Lapinid and Erb were credited with all of Dominican's hits in game one, while Alicia Garcia, Keltner and Mott were the recipients of the RBIs in game one. Keltner had yet another remarkable outing, striking out nine while allowing just three runs on four hits through seven innings of work.
 
GAME TWO
 
Similar to the afternoon's first game, neither team was able to find the scoreboard in the introductory innings of game two. Holy Names struck first, this time in the third inning when a double brought two players home, giving Holy Names its second two-run lead of the day.
 
Dominican gained the lead in the fourth when a plethora of players crossed home plate, giving Dominican an eventual 5-2 lead. Junior Kama Kaleikini walked to load the bases with no outs, preceding a Celeste Salas single that brought home the Penguins' fist run. Keltner doubled through the left side moments later, clearing the bases while increasing the Penguin advantage to 4-2 all without a single out being recorded. Lapinid then laid down a perfect bunt to bring Erb home a pair of batters later, then advancing to second as she caught the Hawks snoozing with no one covering the second base bag. No more runs would score in the fourth, but the damage was done as the Penguins took a three-run lead. Lampa later scored the final run of the afternoon in the sixth inning when she advanced home after a Holy Names error, giving Dominican a 6-2 series-sweeping victory.
 
Lapinid and Melissa Garcia both recorded multi-hit games as Lapinid recorded a trio of hits with Melissa Garcia notching a pair. Keltner was the main breadwinner of game two as she tallied three RBIs with Salas and Lapinid both earning one, as well. Senior Rosa Leguria was awarded the game two victory as she pitched 3.1 innings, allowing no runs on four hits.