TUCSON, Ariz. -- The Cal State Dominguez Hills softball team fell short of making history with its best start to start a season after suffering a 4-2 setback against Northwest Nazarene, the Toros bounced back in the nightcap against Washburn, scoring four in the first en route to an 8-3 win.

Alyssa Olague picked up the win while Amara Labonog was the offensive hero, belting two hits and driving in three at the plate.

Game 1 – NNU 4, CSUDH 2
Facing against one of top pitchers in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) in left-hander Sidney Booth, most of the Toros lineup couldn't figure her out. Chenoa Au got two base hits off her. Her first was leading off the third inning when she tripled to right center field but was stranded as Booth retired the side after that.
 
Olague held the Nighthawks' bats in check for the first two innings but ran into trouble in the opponent's half of the third. She surrendered a leadoff single and a ground-rule double to put two runners into scoring position. The next batter hit a fly ball to left field. Alex Davis made a perfect throw to Maiya Lopez at home plate in attempt to prevent the runner from scoring but was just a millisecond too late, giving the Nighthawks a 1-0 lead.
 
Northwest Nazarene would plate in two more runs off Olague in the fourth inning to end her appearance in the game. Ashley Wies would go the rest of the way pitching shutout innings.
 
The Toros did slice the deficit in half in the fifth inning. With two down, Au hit got her second hit and Claudia Valencia followed with her first home run as a Toro.
 
Game 2 – CSUDH 8, Washburn 3
Although Wies got herself out of trouble after she surrendered a walk and a hit-by-pitch in the first inning, the Toros quickly went to work on Washburn starter Raegen Hamm. She hit Valencia to start her outing and then Kianna Abellera reached on a bunt single to put two runners. Raquel Jaime knocked in Valencia with a one-out single through the left side and Katelyn Sturm singled to load the bases for Labonog, who cleared them all with a double down the left field line to take a 4-0 lead.
 
The Ichabods would plate two runners in the second, one of which was unearned, to cut the deficit in half. Abellera would get one of those runs back when she recorded another hit and worked her way around the bases with a pair of wild pitches and a groundout.
 
The Toros got two more runs in the third inning when Labonog led off with a single up the middle and Dafne Bravo drew a walk to setup a two-out two-run single by Valencia to build a 7-3 lead. The Toros got the eighth run in the fifth inning, when Abellera traded an out for a run to score in Au from third.
 
After taking the loss in the first game, Olague came in relief and pitched 4.1 shutout performance to improve to 5-1.
 
The Toros wrap up both the Montana State Billings Desert Stinger as well as the season-opening 11-game road Sunday, when they take on Central Washington at 11 a.m. PST.