BOX SCORE 1 | BOX SCORE 2 GAME 1:  #15 Sonoma State 5, #21 Cal State Dominguez Hills 0 -- Box Score
GAME 2:  #21 Cal State Dominguez Hills 8, #15 Sonoma State 1 -- Box Score

ROHNERT PARK -- After cruising to a 5-0 victory in the opener behind a three-hit shutout by Samantha Lipperd, the Sonoma State softball team fell victim to a 8-1 blowout at the hands of visiting Cal State Dominguez Hills in the nightcap, as both teams were forced to split Friday's doubleheader at the Seawolf Softball Field in Rohnert Park. 

The Seawolves, ranked at No. 15 in this week's National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll, remains in second place in the CCAA standings at 12-6 (19-8 overall), while the 21st-ranked Toros remain in fifth place at 10-8 (18-10 overall).

Sonoma State and CSU Dominguez Hills will wrap up the four-game series with a doubleheader on Saturday, set for 11:00 a.m.  The Seawolves will then play 18 of their final 22 regular season games on the road, starting with back-to-back weekend trips to Turlock.

GAME 1

Scoreless through the first two and a half innings, it would be the host Seawolves to break through for the first runs of the series -- three to be exact and all with two outs.  Ancia Purdy reached base on a one-out single before stealing second and advancing to third on a groundout by Danielle D'Eccliss.  Purdy then scored on a single by Vanessa Currie to take the 1-0 lead.  Ali Palermo followed with a sharp line-drive single down the right field line, but the ball would glance off of Toro right fielder Daisy Beltran and nestle itself in the right field corner, allowing Currie to score and Palermo to move to third on the two-base error.  Palermo later came home on a Holli Brown single to put SSU up 3-0.

Two more runs would come across the plate for Sonoma State in the fifth on a two-RBI double by Brown, scoring Currie and Ally Bryant, who pinch ran for Palermo.  That would be all the Seawolves would get, but that's all they would need as Lipperd dominated the Toro lineup from top to bottom.

Lipperd (11-3) allowed just three hits in the ballgame, but she also walked three and hit two others.  However, the senior right-hander continued to work herself out of jams, stranding eight runners on base.  She also added to her CCAA-leading strikeout total with 10 in Friday's opener.

Both Currie and Brown were a perfect 3 for 3 at the plate in the victory -- Currie recorded two doubles (her conference-leading 10th and 11th of the season), one RBI and scored two runs as Brown also pounded out a pair of two-baggers to go along with three RBI.  Palermo went 2 for 3 while Purdy and Olivia Lucchese each had a base hit, totaling 10 for the game.

Lauren Harper (7-7) was tagged with the loss for Cal State Dominguez Hills; she gave up five runs (three earned) on nine hits and struckout one in four-plus innings of work.  Karen Peterson came on in relief in the fifth inning and allowed one hit to the six batters she faced. 

GAME 2

After being shutout in the opener the Toros punched right back, crusing to a dominating 8-1 win to force the doubleheader split.  After CSUDH scored in the top of the first, Palermo knotted the game at 1-1 with a sacrifice fly, scoring Purdy, but it would prove to be the only run scored by the hosts in game two.

Cal State Dominguez Hills blew the game wide open in its next at bat with an RBI double by Kaci McGinnis, followed by a three-run home run by Adriana Sanchez -- her CCAA-leading 13th homer of the season -- to put the visitors up 5-1.  After giving up a walk to the next Toro batter, SSU starter Amanda Llerena was lifted for Lipperd, who then retired the next two batters to end the frame.  Another run came across the plate in the third, followed by two more in the seventh to give CSUDH a commanding 8-1 lead.

Toro starter Stephanie Jimenez (11-3) earned the complete-game win, allowing one run on seven Seawolf hits while striking out four.  Sanchez paced the offense, going 3 for 5 with the three-run home run in the second inning.  Beltran added three hits as Jessica Hall and McGinnis both went 2 for 4 with an RBI.

Llerena (8-5) gave up five runs on six hits in the first inning and a third.  Lipperd worked the final 5.2 frames, scattering eight hits and allowing three runs (two earned).  D'Eccliss went 2 for 3 in the loss and five other Seawolves had one hit.