CLEVELAND, Ohio - Today the Calvin softball team took on Dominican University in the regional round of the NCAA Tournament, which involves four teams in a double elimination bracket. 
 
The Knights, who were the higher seed and therefore the designated home team, got out to a hot start in the bottom of the first inning when sophomore third baseman Carly Dole (Mt. Pleasant, Mich./Mt. Pleasant) hit her sixth home run of the year to give Calvin an early 1-0 lead.
 
However, the Stars responded quickly when they pushed two runs of their own across the plate and took command of the game. One inning later, Dominican threatened again as it had the bases loaded with no outs but the Calvin defense came up strong as it recorded two outs before Brooke Hunderman (Grand Rapids, Mich./Calvin Christian) recorded a strikeout to retire the sign with no damage done.
 
The next scoring opportunity came for the Knights in the bottom of the fourth when junior catcher Taylor Sanborn (Midland, Mich./Midland) led off with a single through the right side of the infield. Up next, senior Emilie Gist (Bettendorff, Iowa/Bettendorff) laid down a sacrifice bunt to move pinch runner Sage Mougin (New Carlisle, Ind./New Prairie) into scoring position. Two batters later, with two outs, sophomore Emma Walker (Hamilton, Mich./Saugatuck) came up big when she delivered a clutch double over the center fielder's head to bring Mougin home and tie things up at 2-2.
 
In the bottom of the sixth, with the two teams still neck-and-neck and runner at third for the Knights, senior pinch hitter Ali Schultz (Wyoming, Mich./Grandville) rose to the occasion and singled through the infield to score Sanborn and reclaim the lead. Calvin put an exclamation point on the inning Lily Gaastra (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) punched the ball to the outfield to bring in pinch runner Tory Decker (Hudsoncille, Mich./Unity Christian) and stretch the Calvin lead to 4-2.
 
With all the pressure on the Stars, Hunderman and the rest of the Calvin defense made quick work of the Dominican batters as it retired the Stars in order and walked away with the victory. Hunderman finished the game with nine strikeouts.
 
COACHES COMMENT: "Today was a gritty win," said head coach Becky Hilgert. "We had a lot of pent up energy the first few innings and I think once we settled in we started to play our ball. I think it was some nerves as this is the first NCAA Tournament experience for a lot of our team so they are just taking it all in. Really proud of how we grinded and pulled it out at the end. Tomorrow is going to be a great game. Case Western is a great ball team and they do a lot of things well so we know we will have our hands full but we are excited to get that first win today and get to the next game."
 
UP NEXT: The Knights will be back in action tomorrow as they continue NCAA Tournament play against host team Case Western Reserve University at 11:00 AM.