SAN RAFAEL, Calif. –
Alicia Garcia homered and Dominican softball won 7-3 Friday afternoon over Cal State Monterey Bay at Penguin Field.
It was the second home run of the season for Garcia with both dingers coming in victory for the Penguins (2-3).
Alyssa Rue added three RBI on a 1-for-2 performance from the plate. All four pitchers made appearances for Dominican with
Taylor Rodriguez earning her first victory of the season pitching two scoreless innings and allowing one hit.
Shelby Keltner quickly opened the game retiring the side in the first before a single base runner reached safely in the second with no damage done.
Caitlyn Perales singled on a bouncing ball up the middle to get the first hit for the Penguins in the bottom of the second to bring up
Alicia Garcia. Garcia turned on the third pitch she saw and sent it over the center-field fence to give her team the early 2-0 lead.
Rodriguez entered in the third and a hit by pitch paired with an error to get a pair of runners in scoring position with two outs but Rodriguez jammed the next batter to get a high pop fly which Rue tracked down in shallow center for the final out of the inning.
Melissa Garcia singled on a slap hit back to second and proceeded to steal second to move into scoring position.
Tiare Guerrero added another slap hit to second to put runners on the corners and Guerrero stole second as the catcher looked to hold Garcia at third. Rue cashed in the pair as she singled to right field with the slide from Guerrero separating the catcher from the ball to go up 4-0 heading to the fourth.
After a leadoff single put a runner on in the top of the fourth, Rodriguez got the next batter swinging before
Melissa Garcia tracked a fly ball to center and threw back to first for an inning ending double play. A pair of errors to start the bottom of the fifth put a pair of runners on for the Penguins and
Morgan Saucedo singled up the middle to bring in one run and the throw by center field home got away from the catcher and allowed another run to come home with Saucedo standing at third. Rue lined the first pitch she saw to the base of the center field wall to bring Rue home for the 7-0 lead.
Ally Alcayaga put CSUMB on the board in the top of the sixth with a three-run home run to left to trim the gap back to four, but Keltner re-entered the game and did not allow another base runner to secure the victory for Dominican.
The Penguins will return to the diamond Sunday as it takes on Stanislaus State and Menlo in a doubleheader beginning at 12:30 p.m. at Penguin Field.
