LA MIRADA, Calif. – Dominican softball found its bats in the final games of the season as it swept the season series with Biola winning 7-6 and 7-6 Sunday night at Freedom Field.
Shelby Keltner earned the win in both games moving to 14-14 on the year while finishing the day with 10 strikeouts. Keltner added a home run and four RBI from the plate on the day.
Faith Erb continued her hot hitting as she went 2-for-4 with an RBI and three runs scored.
Game one
Keltner and Raylene Robal dominated the early part of the game as neither allowed many scoring opportunities over the first two innings. That would change in the third as
Melissa Garcia doubled to left center on the first pitch she saw before moving to third on a groundout and coming home on an error to give Dominican the 1-0 lead.
Allie Beck doubled down the left-field line with two outs and one on in the bottom of the inning to put a pair of runs in scoring position for the Eagles as they looked to answer. Abie Nowak then cashed in on the opportunity with a single to center to bring both home to take a 2-1 lead for Biola.
Dominican swung the momentum back their way as Anabelle Burke worked a 10 pitch walk and then advancing on a wild pitch. Erb singled to left with two outs to bring Burke sprinting around third and she beat the throw home allowing Erb to move to second on the play. Garcia then singled up the middle to score Erb and give the Penguins back a 3-2 lead. Keltner sat the runners down in order in the fourth to preserve the lead.
Jayla Cadena doubled to right center and then advanced the next 120 feet on a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly to double the lead in the fifth. The Eagles loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning but Keltner left them stranded after inducing a fly out to right. The momentum continued to roll as Burke walked before Erb and Garcia singled to load the bases in the top of the sixth.
Kate Tobola and Cadena walked in a pair before a slow groundball to second allowed one more to score and extend the lead to 7-2.
It was the lead Keltner needed to close out the game as the Eagles scored four unearned in the bottom of the seventh to close the gap but the Penguins claimed the victory.
Game two
Things started slow in the night cap as both teams entered the fifth scoreless. Dominican though had other plans as
Mady Salonga and Garcia were each hit by a pitch while Erb drew a walk to load the bases for Tobola. Tobola doubled to the gap in left center to bring home a pair and Keltner followed up with a three-run bomb over the fence in the same area to make it 5-0 and force a pitching change.
Keltner worked quicklyin the bottom of the frame retiring three of four batters faced on six pitches including a strikeout.
Marina Medina singled to left to lead off the sixth and Salong singled to short before Erb walked to load the bases with no outs. Roybal was able to strike out a pair looking but an error at third base allowed two runs to score to increase the lead to 7-0. Another error prolonged the bottom of the sixth and Biola took advantage as Alexis Lara tripled to right center to close the gap to 7-3. The would score three more in the seventh but once again Keltner did just enough to get the victory.
