ATHERTON, Calif. – Dominican softball clinched its spot in the PacWest Championships on Saturday as it won 7-2 and 5-3 over Menlo at Wunderlich Field.
Kate Tobola led the way on offense going 5-for-7 with four doubles and an RBI.
Taylor Rodriguez claimed the victory in the circle for the Penguins (32-21, 23-13 PacWest) allowing two runs with four strikeouts in a complete game of work. With the win Rodriguez moves to 18-5 on the year breaking Dominican's single season wins record set by Ashlyn Moriarity (17-11) in 2014.
Nayellys Torres-Gonzalez pitched 3.2 scoreless innings with six strikeouts in relief during the second game to move to 7-6 for her freshman season.
Game One
Having seen its attempts to reach the championships dissipate at the end of the year the past two years, Dominican had no intent to let it happen again as
Tiare Guerrero singled up the middle and
Payton Oas singled to third using her speed to beat the throw. Tobola doubled to left to bring home Guerrero and Rodriguez brought home Oas on a sacrifice fly to take the 2-0 lead in the first.
Oas started another rally in the third as she singled into left field past the outstretched glove of the shortstop and stole second. Tobola doubled off the fence in center on a high fly ball as Oas had to hold up ending up at third on the play. After
Taylor Eby walked to load the bases,
Melissa Garcia pushed a ball up the middle that the short stop was able to scoop and get enough as she rolled over and flipped it to second for a fielder's choice, but Oas scored on the play to take the 3-0 lead.
Jolena Velasquez broke the Oaks () out of their offensive duldrums with a double to left with Aleatha Buchner singled to shallow center to bring her home, but Buchner was caught trying to make it to second clearing the base paths. Emma Medina singled to right field and Grace Christian doubled down the right-field line to bring her home and cut the deficit to 3-2. Rodriguez escaped the jam as Guerrero tracked a popout into foul territory and made the running grab to keep her team in the lead.
After a scoreless fourth, Tobola singled on a bunt before moving to second on a sacrifice bunt. Eby singled through the right side to put runners on the corners and took second without any problem as the catcher chose to look Tobola's way first.
Kelissa Lee singled up the middle to score one with two outs and
Annabelle Burke did the same on the next at bat to bring home a second run for the 5-2 lead, advancing to second on the throw home.
Aneesa Brewer entered as a pinch hitter and made it three-straight singles up the middle bringing home both Burke and Lee to take the 7-2 lead.
Rodriguez shook off a leadoff double in the bottom of the fifth to retire the next three batters scooping a groundball back to the circle and tossing to first for the final out of the frame. Menlo put another leadoff runner on in the bottom of the sixth but Burke cleared the bases as she snagged a line drive up the first-base line and touched her bag in one motion for the unassisted double play. Rodriguez then slammed the door shut as she retired the side in the bottom of the seventh.
Game two
Melissa Garcia singled to right field and Tobola doubled to center to put runners on second and third with one out in the top of the first. Burke brought home the first run of the game with a sacrifice fly giving the Penguins the lead. Medina singled to lead off the bottom of the frame with an error putting runners on the corners with one out. Gabrielle Rodriguez singled on a sharp line drive to third base to bring home one run with a throwing error moving the runners to second and third. A dropped popup allowed two more runners to come home to give the Oaks a 3-1 lead with Sydney Costello thrown out at second on the play to end the inning.
Melissa Garcia doubled to left center to put runners on second and third with one out in the top of the third as Dominican looked to cut into the lead, but Rosaline Torralva struck out the next batter before a fly out to right ended the frame. Eby was hit by a pitch and
Kelissa Lee walked to put the first two batters on in the top of the fourth, but Torralva once again got a strike out and some help from her infield to get out of the jam. The pattern continued in the fifth with Guerrero drawing a walk and Garcia singled before the Oaks retired the next three batters.
The Penguins finally broke through in the top of the sixth as Lee walked and
Alicia Garcia reached safely on a sacrifice bunt as the throw to first was dropped by the second baseman.
Alexis Abalos singled up the middle to bring home Lee and trim the deficit to one. Brewer came in to pinch hit yet again, and yet again she delivered as she roped a ball through the left side to bring home two runs and take the 4-3 lead. Guerrero then singled on a hop up the middle to put runners on the corners with no outs. Menlo was able to get the first out as they caught the runner on third off the bag but Guerrero came around to third to keep the pressure on, coming home on a wild pitch to make the score 5-3.
Torres-Gonzalez retired the side in the bottom of the sixth to keep the lead heading to the final inning. Medina singled up the middle to lead off the bottom of the seventh, but Guerrero grabbed a popup to keep her at first. Torres-Gonzalez caught the next batter swinging to send her back to the dugout and Guerrero fielded a high hop and threw to first to end the frame and complete the season sweep.
Dominican will be back in action at Wednesday for the PacWest Championships held at Golden Eagle Stadium on the campus of CUI with first pitch at either 2 p.m. or 5 p.m. depending on its seed.
