SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – The Chaminade University softball team opened their 18-game road trip with a split of Dominican University of California at Penguin Field.
The Silverswords tacked on the game's first three runs then held on in the seventh to get the series-opening win despite temperatures hovering in the low 50s at first pitch.
The Penguins came back to win the nightcap, 10-1, in six innings.
Chaminade is 5-16 overall and 2-12 in the Pacific West Conference while Dominican is 8-18 and 3-9.
Game 1
Jackie Najera (Santa Ana, Calif./Segerstrom) got the 'Swords on the board in the first inning when she tagged to third on a screaming line-out from
Rainelle Matsuoka (Honolulu/Kaiser but the throw to gun her down at third sailed over third base, allowing Najera trot home.
Kiana Ulufale (Ewa Beach, Hawai'i/Campbell) drove in Chaminade's second run by singling home
Kayla Henmi (Torrance, Calif./South) when Ulufale's bouncer glanced off the shortstop's glove into center field.
Chaminade plated its third run of the game in the second inning when Najera doubled, allowing
Makena Kealoha (Corona, Calif./Norco) to score.
Meanwhile, Silverswords starter
Devan Dickson (Avondale, Ariz./Westview) held DUC in check in the early innings by stranding several runners in scoring position. She also got defensive help in the second inning. With a runner at first, Haley Cheek laid down a bunt down the third base line. Kealoha threw Cheek out at first then Najera, covering first base, alertly fired a strike to Matsuoka at second who tagged out Dahlen Dennis on a back-door play for the twin killing. It was the 15
th double-play recorded by the 'Swords this season.
Dickson continued to baffle the Penguins, firing a no-hitter entering the fifth inning but ran into trouble to start the fifth. Three straight hits brought home two runs as DUC cut into the lead, 3-2.
Chaminade took a 4-2 lead in the sixth when pinch-runner
Kaitlin Kim (Kahului, Hawai'i/St. Anthony) beat the throw to the plate on a single by
Madelyn Stockslager (Torrance, Calif./South).
The Silverswords committed two errors in the bottom of the seventh which helped DUC plate a run. With the tying and winning runs in scoring position, Stockslager struck out Dennis to end the game.
Dickson got her first win since Feb. 21 to improve to 2-6 on the season while Stockslager tossed two innings to get her first career save. Matsuoka and Ulufale each had two of Chaminade's eight hits.
Alyssa Waltman took the loss for Dominican to fall to 3-3.
The win snapped Chaminade's seven-game losing streak to the Penguins dating back to March 2014. It was also their first win in San Rafael since 2013.
Game 2
With Stockslager inside the circle, DUC got two first-inning runs. Stockslager helped herself in the third when her two-out comebacker deflected off the glove of her counterpart, Gaby Katafias. The misdirected ball allowed
Kayla Higuchi (Aiea, Hawai'i/Aiea) to cross the plate.
But that would be all Chaminade could muster with DUC plating multiple runs in the fourth and fifth innings which included a game-ending grand slam by pinch-hitter Emily Ginn.
Najera got two of the 'Swords' four hits. Stockslager fell to 3-7, tossing four innings with four strikeouts.
Katafias improved to 5-7 with the win.
The Silverswords will wrap up their four-game series against Dominican Monday with a doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m.
