SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican softball relied on its defense and pitching to secure a doubleheader sweep over a red-hot Biola squad winning both games of the doubleheader 2-1 with the second coming in an 11-inning marathon at Penguin Field.
 
The Eagles (30-17, 23-6) came into the day winners of 16 straight, but the Penguins were undaunted. Alexis Verduzco allowed only a single earned run in 5.1 innings of work in the first game before Taylor Rodriguez closed out the save with 1.2 innings of hitless ball to earn her third save. Nayellys Torres-Gonzalez worked 4.1 scoreless frames in the second game before giving way to Rodriguez who once again was fire allowing one run on four hits in 6.2 innings of work to move to 5-8 on the year.
 
Biola caught an early break in the first game as Ariana Banos doubled to right center and then took advantage of a fielding error two batters later to come home for the 1-0 lead in the second inning. They looked to extend the lead in the fourth inning with runners on the corners and one out, but Dominican perfectly executed a play to stop the double steal and get the lead runner diving back to third before Kelissa Lee secured a flyout in center to end the frame.
 
The fifth inning gave Dominican the chance they needed to even the game as errors by the third baseman and shortstop put runners on second and third with one out. Kayla Bosquette looked poised to escape the jam as she forced a groundout during the next at bat, but Marina Medina came in to pinch hit and delivered a clutch single to center field allowing both runners the time to come home for the 2-1 lead. Kendall Nakano and Lillianna Garcia singled to lead off the sixth, but Verduzco got one last out as Aneesa Brewer secured the line drive in left to hold the runners. Rodriguez then entered the game and delivered a pair of groundouts to keep the lead. Rodriguez got the first batter of the seventh swinging with a popup to second setting up one final chance for Biola with the top of their lineup coming to the plate. Rodriguez made a brilliant stab at a comebacker to the circle and then threw to first to record the final out of the game.
 
The second game flew by as the Eagles' DJ Symons and Torres-Gonzalez worked quickly through the lineups. Ibarra and Kennadie Tsue singled with one out in the top of the fifth as they looked to spark a rally, but Rodriguez entered the game and quickly retired the next two batters on four pitches to keep the game scoreless. The teams tried to manufacture runs in the low scoring game, but neither could solve the opposite pitcher until extras.
 
Lizzie Byer singled through the left side and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt in the top of the eighth, but with two outs the Eagles looked to the heart of the lineup to deliver a clutch hit. Kendall Nakano delivered the hit they needed a bloop single into right center to bring home the first run of the game. With their backs against the wall, Morgan Saucedo delivered for the Penguins as she singled to right to leadoff the inning with Alexis Abalos entering to pinch run. Abalos advanced on a sacrifice and Dominican once again looked to its bench for a clutch hit. Jadyn Magnuson stepped to the plate and singled to left center and the speedy Abalos slid into home safely to tie the game. Another sacrifice moved the runner to second and Kate Tobola rocked a ball into the right center gap, but Mikala Huskey was able to track it down on the run to record the final out, pushing the game deeper into extras.
 
The game moved into an international tiebreaker in the 10th, but once again the defenses and pitching were too good to beat and runners were left stranded at third. After Rodriguez once again stranded a runner on third with Tobola snagging back-to-back grounders to third, Dominican found itself with a chance for the walkoff win. The placed runner moved to third on the sacrifice bunt bringing up the hard hitting Tobola and after she smoked a ball inches foul down the left-field line, the Eagles thought better of pitching to her and put her on first with four straight balls. Tobola stole second to eliminate any chance at a double play and Tiare Guerrero hit a soft line drive into the left-side gap that the shortstop could not squeeze as she went to the ground as the ball dribbled out and Lee ran home for the 2-1 victory.
 
The same two teams will be back at it Tuesday to finish the series with the first pitch of the doubleheader set for noon PDT.