Penguins split final day of games at Tournament of Champions

Recap, photo courtesy of Dominican University

TURLOCK, Calif. – Dominican softball split on its final day of the Tournament of Champions, defeating Montana State Billings 9-8 and falling to Saint Martin's 8-3 at Warrior Softball Field.
 
Lauren Persi had a strong outing in the circle for the Penguins (12-22, 3-11 PacWest) in the first game allowing three earned runs in five innings. Gaby Katafias was the pitcher of record in the first game moving to 7-10 on the year after she pitched two innings in relief.
 
Vanessa Porto carried Dominican on offense, finishing the day going 6 for 7 and scored two runs from the lead-off spot. Porto was named to the All-Tournament Team at the conclusion of all the games after going 9 for 18 with six runs, two RBI, four walks, a hit-by-pitch and a triple in the three day tournament. She has reached base safely in 12 consecutive games for the Penguins.

McKenzie Schumacher had a big first game, going 3 for 4 with three runs and a stolen base, while Alexis Chinchilla went 2 for 3 in game two with two RBI.
 
The first game began as a pitching duel between Persi and Megan Dettling as neither allowed a run to cross the plate in the first two innings. Porto walked and Schumacher and Alyssa Ramirez singled to load the bases in the bottom of the third. Karitza Reyes doubled down the left field line to drive in the first two runs of the game for the Penguins.
 
Persi continued her strong outing by recording her fourth scoreless frame of the day before Myrissa Prince doubled to right center to bring in a run for MSUB (11-17) and cut the deficit in half. Heather Tracy then singled to bring home Prince and tie the game on the next at bat.
 
Schumacher singled and stole second to lead off the bottom of the frame and Ramirez followed with a single to left to put runners on the corners. Tayler Munoz put Dominican back in front with a sharp grounder to third that allowed Schumacher to come home for the 3-2 lead.
 
The Yellowjackets continued its offensive momentum in the top of the sixth as Amanda Barham singled up the middle to bring in the tying run. Kelsee Bushell gave MSUB the 4-3 lead on an error, and Prince followed with a single to make it 5-3.
 
The Penguins again provided the answer as Alyssa Waltman, Porto and Schumacher singled to load the bases in the bottom of the frame. Haley Couch entered in relief of Dettling, but it did not slow down the Dominican offense.
 
Alyssa Ramirez singled up the middle to bring in two runs and tie the game in the next at bat and Christensen reached on a fielder's choice when Schumacher beat the throw home on a squeeze bunt. Bushell committed a fielding error to allow Ramirez to score and Munoz doubled to left cap off the 6-run inning and send Dominican into the top of the seventh with a 9-5 lead.
 
The Yellowjackets attempted a comeback as three runs were scored on four errors by the Penguins in the top of the seventh, but Dominican was able to hold on for the 9-8 victory.
 
Tessani Dixon put the Saints (13-12) on the board first in the second game with an RBI single in the bottom of the first for a 1-0 lead.
 
Munoz led off the top of the second with a single down the right-field line and Dahlen Dennis singled up the middle and advanced to second on the throw home to put both runners in scoring position. Alexis Chinchilla laced a ball up the middle to bring home both runners and give the Penguins the 2-1 lead.
 
Regan Byrd tied the game 2-2 with an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth, and Saint Martin's took back the lead 3-2 in the next inning as Paige Miller singled and scored on a fielding error.
 
The Saints kept the offensive momentum going with a 5-run inning, taking advantage of two Dominican errors. Nicki DeHan tripled to left to plate one more run and an error and a single by Lindsay Miller brought home two more to make it 6-2 in favor of the Saints. Dixon tripled home two more runs to complete the scoring in the frame.
 
The Penguins continued to battle and Persi and Porto led off the top of the seventh with singles. Reyes singled through the left side to score Persi, but were Dominican was unable to close the gap any closer. The Penguins finished the Tournament of Champions with a 4-2 record.
 

Penguins sweep doubleheader

Recap, photo courtesy of Dominican

TURLOCK, Calif. -- Dominican softball kicked off the Tournament of Champions hosted by Stanislaus State with a doubleheader victory, defeating Concordia University Oregon 7-4 in Game 1 and Western Oregon University 4-3 in a pitching duel in Game 2 at the Turlock Regional Sports Complex.
 
Junior catcher Alexis Chinchilla led the Penguins (10-20, 3-11 PacWest) on offense, going 3 for 7 with a double and three RBI. Senior Tayler Munoz led the offense in the first game, finishing 2 for 4 with two RBI. Gaby Katafias (6-9) and Lauren Persi (2-7) both threw complete games in their starts in the circle for Dominican.
 
Alexandria Steen went 3 for 4 with a triple for the Cavaliers (13-13) in the first game. Tori Muir started the game but only lasted two innings. Jessica Lambourn carried Concordia for 4.1 innings, giving up six runs on six hits for her third loss of the season. Katafias got her sixth win of the season, allowing two earned runs and left nine runners stranded on base.
 
Concordia got the upper hand in the bottom of the first as Victoria O'Neill reached base on a fielding error by right fielder Munoz.
 
O'Neill scored on a fielder's choice for a 1-0 lead. The Penguins responded in the top of the second with three straight 2-out singles from Munoz, Alyssa Waltman, and Persi to tie the game 1-1, with Persi bringing home Munoz. Elena Cook led off the bottom of the frame with a single up the middle and scored on a Jordan Smith-Imes single going the same way to retake the 2-1 lead.
 
Dominican loaded the base in the first three at bats of the top of the third inning, but the Cavaliers recorded two ground outs to keep the Penguins off the board. Munoz then reached on a throwing error by O'Neill to score two runs and give Dominican the 3-2 lead. The Cavaliers tied it back up with three straight singles with Courtney Somers earning an RBI when she drove in Mckenzie Smith with a single up the middle.
 
Steen led off the bottom of the fifth with a first-pitch single up the middle. She advanced around the bases on a sacrifice bunt and a throwing error and scored on a single up the middle by Adrianna Rupright to make 4-3 in favor of Concordia.
 
The Penguins refused to go down easy, as Karitza Reyes led off the top of the seventh with a triple to center field and Alyssa Ramirez drove Reyes home with a single down the right-field line to tie the game 4-4. Alexis Chinchilla hit a go-ahead single through the left side to move Ramirez home and reclaim the lead 5-4. Munoz blew open the lead with a 2-RBI single up the middle, extending the Penguins' lead to 7-4 and Katafias stranded a leadoff triple by the Cavaliers at third to seal the final margin of victory.
 
Ryanne Huffman walked to become the first baserunner for the Wolves in the second game. A single up the middle by Cheyanne Rimer scored Huffman for the first run of the game. Vanessa Porto led off the bottom of the first with a walk in the bottom of the first. Reyes followed with a single and Ramirez drew a walk to load the bases for Dominican. Mady Christensen brought home Porto when she was hit by a pitch to tie the game and Alexis Chinchilla doubled to right to give the Penguins a 3-1 lead.
 
The next inning, Jenna Kelly tripled to right field on the first pitch of the at-bat, and Kennedy Coy singled through the left side to bring her in and cut the lead to 3-2. Kelly snuck another run in for the Wolves as her groundout to second base scored Allyson Drury to tie the game 3-3.
 
Christensen led off the bottom of the sixth with a double to left and advanced to third on a throwing error on the relay throw. Munoz followed with a sacrifice fly to right to give the Penguins back the lead at 4-3. The Wolves looked for the tie as Huffman and Mariah Deleon singled to lead off the top of the seventh and they advanced to second and third on a sacrifice bunt. Persi responded and got Nicole Miller to pop out to Haley Cheek in foul territory for the second out. Keely Bowlan secured the victory by catching a fly ball in shallow center for Dominican.
 
The Penguins continue tournament play in Turlock, California, Saturday facing Northwestern Nazarene University in game one at 9:30 am PDT and Simon Fraser University in game two at 11:30 am PDT. Live stats will be available online.

Penguins tie for fifth

By Dominican's Mike Woolf

JURUPA VALLEY, Calif. – Dominican men's golf finished tied for fifth place in the CBU Lancer Men's Golf Joust at the Goose Creek Golf Club.
 
California Baptist won the 20-team field with a 10-over 850. Dominican finished at a 37-over 877, tied with Arkansas-Fort Smith.
 
Junior Nick Rivera and freshman Brittain Walton led the Penguins, each with an 8-over 218 to place them in a tie for 20^th. Junior Brandon Brame tied for 28^th with a 10-over 220 and Ty Macias finished one stroke behind him in a tie for 35^th.  Sophomore Paul Gunness-Bendetti shot a 25-over 235.
 
Dominican takes the course again Monday for the 2018 UCSD SoCal Intercollegiate.

Penguins complete comeback at ART U in match for the ages

Recap BY: DU's Brandon Davis
SAN FRANCISCO — The Dominican University of California women's volleyball team won in epic fashion on Monday night in historic Kezar Pavilion, stealing a 3-2 (17-25, 25-20, 31-33, 25-16, 15-13) victory from rival Academy of Art.

The storylines for the Penguins (10-6/6-2 PacWest) read like a veritable Choose Your Own Adventure book: earlier in the day libero Amanda Lee was named PacWest Libero of the Week for Sept. 26 to Oct. 2, then the Penguins got off to another painfully slow start, rallied back to even the match, then rallied back from six points down in set three only to lose the team's longest set in Division II history, then held the Urban Knights (4-10/2-3 PacWest) to -.026 hitting in set four, won the match thanks to a pair of ART U errors, and with the win passed both the team's overall and conference win total from last season.

Dominican trailed 5-0 from the start and the gap only widended as Dominican fell behind 20-10 and went on to drop the first set. The Penguins got some momentum going in set two thanks to an 8-3 lead that caused ART U to call timeout. The break helped momentarily but the Penguins grew the lead to 20-13. Four of Dominican's next five points came on opponent errors, which time and time again proved costly for the Urban Knights.

Set three epitomized the fight of both teams in a marathon set. The Urban Knights built a 21-14 lead but a 7-0 run by the Penguins evened thet set at 21-21. Ema Causevic's kill gave the Urban Knights the first set point of the frame but her hitting error on the next play evened things at 24-24. In total, there were nine set points between the two teams before, tied 31-31, the Urban Knights broke the seal with another Causevic kill and a Penguins attack error. The 64-point set was the longest in program history in the Division II era for the Penguins, whose longest set up to that point was a 31-29 set in favor of the Penguins over NDNU in 2014.

ART U's momentum spilled over into set four, where the Urban Knights led 3-0 early. A Lee service ace whittled the lead to 4-3, then the Penguins rattled off an 8-1 run for a 10-5 lead. A block from Kate Even andAimee Steinwand built the lead to 20-10 and Dominican fended off a late Urban Knights run to force a fifth set.

The two teams traded the first nine points of the deciding set before ART U took a 6-4 lead on a Penguins attack error. The Penguins evened the set right back up though and the two teams traded points until Dominican took a 13-11 lead on a Steinwand kill down the right side. Back-to-back Bailey Soolsma kills evened the set at 13-13 and forced the Penguins to call timeout. Kabrina Speakman served into the net, setting up Dominican match point, and a Causevic attack error gave the Penguins the win.

Three Penguins reached double-digit kills, led by 14 from Madeline Powelson. Steinwand added 13 andBrittany Latigue tallied 11. Lee was one of three Penguins in double digit digs and led all players with 27. Steinwand added 21 for her 11th double-double and Powelson made it a double-double with 20 digs.Hannah Smith dished out 33 assists and Rebecca Schira added 11 in the win.

ART U was led by 23 kills from Brum. Elisaia added 14 and Causevic had 12 kills. Speakman had 25 digs.

Winners of six of their last eight matches, the Penguins will look to make it four in a row on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Holy Names (1-14/0-7 PacWest). Live stats and video will be provided by the Hawks and will be available at dominicanathletics.com/live.

Penguins erupt for five goals vs. Hawai'i Hilo

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — The Dominican University of California men's soccer team broke out for its first win of the season with a 5-0 victory over Hawai'i Hilo
in the two teams' PacWest opener on Thursday.

Both teams fired seven shots but it was Dominican (1-5-0/1-0-0 PacWest) which was the more efficient team with six of those shots on goal and five finding the back of the net.  Hawai'i Hilo (/0-1-0 PacWest) placed five shots on goal.

Dominican wasted no time with Luke Raley's first collegiate goal coming from the left side in the second minute of the match. That set the tone early and Matt Case doubled the lead with an unassisted goal in the 12th minute. Case assisted Austen McGregor in the 31st minute on a header to the bottom left of the net that built the lead to 3-0 before halftime.

Raley addd his second goal of the day in the 58th minute from 10 yards past the midfield after he intercepted the Vulcans free kick and caught backup goalkeeper Cassidy Dixon too far out of the net to recover. Chase Whitfield neted a goal in the 75th minute to cap the Penguins' scoring outburst.

Oscar O'Con made five saves to earn the shutout for the Penguins.

The Penguins host Hawai'i Pacific on Saturday, Sept. 24 at 11 a.m. Live stats and pay-per-view video will be available at dominicanathletics.com/live with live audio provided by the student broadcasters of Penguin Radio at radio.dominican.edu. Live updates will also be available on the @dominican_ms Twitter account.