IRVINE, Calif. – Domincian softball split its opening games at the CUI Kickoff Classic dropping a 3-0 decision to Colorado Christian before beating Cal State Dominguez Hills 5-2 in the nightcap Friday at the Great Park.
 
Kate Tobola led the team with hits in both games going 4-for-5 with a double, a triple and a run scored for the Penguins (1-1). Morgan Saucedo had a fantastic second game leading Dominican at the plate going 2-for-2 with a triple, an RBI and a run scored. Alexis Verduzco picked up the first win of her collegiate career pitching six frames and allowing two earned runs in her first start as a Penguin. Nayellys Torres-Gonzalez picked up the save recording the final three outs with the tying run on first.
 
Game one
Dominican quickly put a runner in scoring position as Tobola walked to lead off the game and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Lisa Lidell settled in from there and induced a pair of ground outs to get out of the inning for the Cougars (2-0). Kat Hanson singled through the right side and was able to advance to second on a passed ball with two outs but Taylor Rodriguez got the next batter to ground softly to short to return the favor in the bottom of the first.
 
Dominican looked to get a two-out rally going in the top of the second as Anabelle Burke was hit by a pitch and Kelissa Lee singled up the middle, but Sarah Dollerschell scooped the ball on the run and delivered a strike to third to catch Burke for the final out. Tobola tripled to deep right center with one out in the third as Dominican continued to push for the first run of the game, but got caught in a pickle on a failed squeeze play to end the scoring threat.
 
CCU cashed in on its defensive plays in the bottom of the third as Hanson singled to shallow right and a walk put runners on first and second for Arianna Wright. Wright doubled to straightway center field to bring home one run, with Leah Garcia adding another run with a sacrifice fly. Felesha LePenske singled home one last run to take a 3-0 lead. That was all the rom Lidell needed as she stymied the Penguin offense with help from her defense while Torres-Gonzalez blanked the Cougars over the final three innings.
 
Game two
Tobola singled down the left-field line to lead off a second game reaching safely, but Brooke Umali made a brilliant play stabbing a sharp liner from Tiare Guerrero out of the air and throwing to first to clear the bases for the Toros (1-1). Guerrero got her revenge one frame later as she dove to her right to steal a base hit for Andrea Tellez.
 
Morgan Heggstrom singled on a hard hit ball back to third that the fielder was unable to handle cleanly with Burke dropping a single over the shortstops head into shallow center to put runners on the corners. After a pair of foul outs, Payton Oas hit a soft slap back to the circle that Umali let slip under her glove, giving Heggstrom the chance to come home for the first run of the game. Heggstrom caught a pair of runners stealing in the top of the third to keep the Penguins momentum going on defense.
 
Saucedo tripled to right center as she slid into third with one out and Rodriguez brought her home with a sacrifice fly to right to double the lead in the bottom of the third. CSUDH had its first runner in scoring position in the top of the fifth as Gaby Gandara singled down the third-base line on a ball that sat on the line and Makayla Bishop walked to move her to second, but Verduzco induced a groundout to second to leave the runners stranded.
 
Tobola doubled and moved to third on a sacrifice to lead off the bottom of the fifth and Saucedo brought her home with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0. Dominican's offense was not done yet as Lee walked and Leslie Ruiz singled to center field to lead off the bottom of the sixth. A sacrifice put both runners in scoring position and Jadyn Magnuson brought Lee home on a sacrifice fly with Alyssa Williams bringing home Ruiz on a single down the right-field line.
 
The Toros scored their first run of the game on three walks and a hit batter with Ashley Goodale singling through the left side to cut the lead to 5-2 and become the tying run at first with no outs. Torres-Gonzalez struck out the next batter before Guerrero scooped up a grounder to start a 6-4-3 double play to end the game.
 
Dominican will return to Great Park for two more games tomorrow beginning with Cal State San Bernardino at 1 p.m. with a night cap against Cal State San Marcos at 6 p.m. PST.