HILO, Hawai'i – Dominican softball could not hold a couple of late leads dropping 3-2 and 4-3 decisions to University of Hawai'i at Hilo to finish the series at Vulcan Field.
 
Taylor Rodriguez led the Penguins (7-12, 2-6 PacWest) from the plate going 3-for-5 with two doubles and two RBI. Rayna White led the Vulcans (7-7, 4-3 PacWest) going 3-for-7 with two RBI.
 
Game one
Lelia Benson and Kate Tobola singled to opposite gaps in the outfield to put runners on the corners with one out in the top of the first. Taylor Rodriguez laid down a perfect squeeze bunt to bring home Benson and a wild throw sent Tobola sprinting for home, but White threw a perfect strike to the catcher for the tag to keep the Dominican lead from growing further. The Vulcan's loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning with one out, but White made a base running mistake leaving third on a short popup to short and Tiare Guerrero threw back to Tobola for the double play to end the inning.
 
Rodriguez left three more runners stranded in the bottom of the second as the offense began to dry up in the afternoon heat. Kelissa Lee walked and advanced on a sacrifice bunt to quickly move into scoring position in the top of the fifth. Guerrero singled to shallow center and Lee slid under the tag at home to extend the lead to 2-0.
 
The Vulcans finally broke through the Dominican defense in the bottom of the sixth inning as they loaded the bases on a single and a pair of walks. Morgan Fontela drew a walk to cut the lead in half and an error allowed the tying run to come home two batters later. White singled up the middle to bring home the game-winning run and Rabe shut it down in the top of the seventh to seal the deal.
 
Game two
Kanoe Piltz scored the first run of the second game as two errors on one play allowed her to round all the bases for the 1-0 UHH lead. With a runner at third in the bottom of the third, White grounded to second to allow Kealohi Markham to come home and was safe as well as an errant throw to first put her on the base paths. Morgan Heggstrom caught her stealing at second to limit the damage in the inning.
 
The Penguins finally caught some offensive momentum in the top of the sixth as Guerrero and Benson walked to put a pair on for the heart of the order. Tobola singled up the middle to bring home Guerrero and Rodriguez doubled down the left-field line to bring home two more as Dominican took a 3-2 lead. The Penguins were unable to bring home Rodriguez, but held the top of the order in check in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead into the final inning.
 
Piltz singled to center and advanced on a sacrifice bunt to lead off the bottom of the seventh. Ava Monturio singled up the middle to put runners at the corners and a pair of squeeze bunts brought both home in walk-off fashion.
 
Dominican will head to Oahu next for the final two series of its road trip beginning with Hawai'i Pacific on Sunday at Noon Hawaiian Time at Sand Island Park.