SEASIDE, Calif. – Dominican softball fell 6-1 and 9-2 Wednesday afternoon to Cal State Monterey Bay at the Otter Sports Complex.
Morgan Heggstrom had the best day at the plate for the Penguins (5-7) hitting .400 on the day with two doubles and an RBI. Leilani Benson added a hit in each game to go with an RBI, a stolen base and a run scored. Andrea De Jesus led the Otters (8-4) in the first game going 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored, while Kieley Ganaden was 2-for-3 from the plate in the second game with a triple and four RBI.
De Jesus helped CSUMB get off to a strong start in the first game as an infield single brought home the first run of the game in the bottom of the first inning.
Annabelle Burke singled and advanced to third on a sacrifice and a wild pitch. After
Kelissa Lee walked and stole second to put two runners into scoring position with two outs in the top of the second, Jordan Knutson came out of a rain delay and immediately got a groundout to third to end the inning.
After the Otters loaded the bases on singles, an error with a chance to end the inning instead brought home a pair of runs pushing the lead to 3-0. CSUMB added runs in each of the next two innings to extend the lead to five. Burke singled and Heggstrom doubled to bring in the first run of the game for Dominican. Benson singled and stole second to put a pair of runners in scoring position, but Knutson again got a groundout to third to end the final scoring threat from the Penguins.
Neveah Martinez opened the scoring in the second game with a solo home run to center to lead off the bottom of the second. The Otters than started a two-out rally with a pair of singles and a fielder's choice to load the bases for Ganaden. Ganaden tripled to right center to bring in three runs for the 4-0 lead.
Ali Fierro and Tiare Guerreo singled to lead off the top of the third with
Kate Tobola getting hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs. Benson singled through the left side to bring in one run and
Kelissa Lee walked to bring in another as Dominican cut the lead in half.
Heggstrom doubled to lead off the top of the fourth with Fierro drawing a walk to put the tying run on the base paths. A passed ball advanced both into scoring position with no outs, but Kaitlyn Le came into the circle and retired the next three batters in order to maintain the lead. Le allowed only one more hit the rest of the way, while her offense added five more runs on the way to victory.
Dominican will have a week before their next scheduled games at San Francisco State for a doubleheader Tuesday beginning at noon PST at SFSU softball field pending the weather.
