ROSEMONT, Ill. –The Elmhurst softball team opened the 2019 campaign by dropping both ends of a doubleheader against Dominican University. The Bluejays fell 9-8 in game one and came up short 5-0 in game two.
 
DOMINICAN 9, ELMHURST 8 (Game One)  – Elmhurst jumped out to a 6-1 lead, but Dominican hung an eight on the scoreboard in the fourth to seize control of the contest before holding on for a one-run victory.
 
Elmhurst jumped out to a 4-0 lead after two innings after scoring four in the bottom of the second. Riley Schweig squeezed home a run to put the Bluejays on the scoreboard. Ellie Bruan added a run-scoring single and Mia Riese tripled in two runs.

Elmhurst made it 6-1 in the bottom of the third after Alexis Ramos tripled home a run and then scored on Mia Tran's sacrifice fly.

Dominican broke things open in the fourth. A walk, a hit batter and a single loaded the bases with no outs. After a run-scoring single from Cat Klosterman, the Stars used two-run doubles from Gabby Curran and Katie Dredrick to tie the score at 6-6. The Stars added three more runs and sent 13 batters to the plate in the fourth.

Elmhurst got a run back in the bottom of the fourth when Braun scored on a wild pitch. Trailing by one in the seventh, the Bluejays fell just short of tying the game. With a runner on first and two outs, Tran laced the ball into the gap in left center. Alyssa Ressinger came all the way around to score but Tran was thrown out at the plate trying to score an inside the park homer as the Stars escaped with the one run victory.
 
Tran finished 3-for-3 at the plate with a run scored and two RBIs. Ressinger and Jackie Orel added two hits apiece for the Bluejays while Curran led the Stars with a 3-for-4 day at the plate with two scored and two knocked in.
 
Emily Despain took the loss, allowing six hits and seven runs in 3.1 innings of work. She walked three and struck out one. Klosterman picked up the win in relief for Dominican, tossing the final four frames and allowing five hits and two runs while walking one and fanning seven.
 
DOMINICAN 5, ELMHURST 0 (Game Two) – Dominican finished the sweep of the Bluejays with a 5-0 victory in game two.
 
Dominican plated a run in the third on Jessica Evans' RBI single with two outs. An errant pickoff throw deflected off a Dominican bat in the fifth inning, allowing a Stars' runner to come home and score.  The Stars tacked on three insurance runs in the seventh, taking advantage of a two-out error two score two of the team's three runs in the inning.
 
Elmhurst was limited to just five hits in the loss with Allie Picucci collecting three singles to lead Elmhurst at the plate.
 
Jenna Hicks made the start and took the loss for the Bluejays, surrendering just three hits and one run over three innings of work. She did not issue a walk and fanned one.
 
Elmhurst kicks off an 11-game swing through Florida on March 21.