After playing some non-conference contests this past week, the Aurora University softball team got back into Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play as they hosted the Dominican University Stars. The Spartans continued to sit atop the conference as they swept Dominican, winning 10-2 (5 innings) and 7-1.

Game One
AU jumped out to a lead with two runs in the second inning with Taylor Moore squeezing in Steph Starr and Madie Polden singling to score Natalia Szyller who was running for Vanessa Wegner.

Dominican scored two runs in the top of the fourth inning off AU starter Vanessa Hartzell, tying to game up at 2-2. In the bottom of the fourth, the Spartan bats came to life. With two outs following a double-play, the bats went to work. Moore and Polden singled before Lauren Huebner walked to load the bases for Mandey Shrader. With one swing of the bat, Shrader blew the game wide open, depositing the ball over the fence for the grand slam and a 6-2 AU lead.

Determined to end the game early in the fifth, Larkin Langston led off with a home run but two outs later and no one on, Wegner doubled. After Moore singled, Polden singled for the third time to drive in Wegner. With the game ending run on first, Huebner tripled to score Moore and Polden The 10th run enacted the mercy rule and AU won 10-2.

Game Two
In game two, AU scored a run in the first, once again with two outs. After starter Natalie Zanella set down the Stars again, AU took a commanding lead with a five run second inning. The Spartans played small ball to score the five runs on four hits and were aided by a walk and two sacrifice flyouts.

Dominican did score one run in the third to cut the lead to 6-1. In the fourth, the games scoring would end after Logan Cahill led off with a solo home run. The Spartans and Zanella held on for the remainder of the game for the win.

With the sweep, AU is now 25-5 overall and 16-0 in the NACC. Next action for the Spartan softball team comes on Sunday, April 19, 2015 when they travel to Wisconsin Lutheran College in a NACC doubleheader. Game one is set for 11:00 a.m. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.