IRVINE, Calif. – Lauren Lapinid collected her first PacWest Player of the Week honors after leading Dominican softball to three victories last week at Penguin Field.

"Consistency is key and she is the epitome of that," head coach Juliana Santos said. "Her softball IQ is off the charts and I could not be more proud of her this season. She has really developed into an exceptional softball player these past few seasons and we've been able to depend on her to come through for the team."

Lapinid was on fire from the plate last week hitting .636 with two runs and three RBI on the week with no strikeouts and one walk on the week. She added nine putouts and 13 assists with no errors playing as a shortstop. She is now the second Penguin to win player of the week honors this season joining Alicia Garcia.

"Receiving this award was one of my goals going into this season," Lapinid said. "I've held myself to a higher standard this season in order to become the best potential player for myself and my team. This is also a testament to our team as we picked up big wins over Holy Names that took a collective effort from my teammates and coaches."

Lapinid was instrumental to Dominican's success as she helped spark a 5-run fifth inning in Dominican's win over Cal Poly Humboldt as she singled to right center to score two runs and eventually scored to wrap up the scoring. She then scored the game winning run against the opener against the Hawks as she raced home on a sacrifice fly. Her bunt single then capped another big inning for the Penguins in the final game of the week to score Faith Erb from second as they went on to a 6-2 victory.

Dominican will return to the diamond Friday, April 22 against Azusa Pacific beginning its final home series of the year at noon PDT.