Box Score #1
Box Score #2
San Rafael, CA – The Academy of Art University resumed conference play with a match up against Dominican University on Saturday afternoon. This was the third and final series between the two teams this season. The Knights' defense struggled on the afternoon but was backed up by strong pitching and powerful offense. The pitching and offense combination was enough to overcome their opponents, and the Knights swept the Penguins winning 8-6 in game one, and posting a season high 12 runs in game two to win with a final score of 12-10.
“Today we stayed patient at the plate, hit line drives, and made adjustments early in each game,” exclaimed Head Coach Rachel Sherman. “We rallied with two outs, and never gave up or doubted ourselves in both games.”
ART U got things going first in the game when they quickly made adjustments at the plate and scored a run in the top of the second inning. The Penguins however, capitalized on ART U errors and answered right back with two runs of their own in the bottom of the third inning to take the lead. The Urban Knights were kept scoreless for the next two innings as they were unable to capitalize on their base runners. But in the top of the 5th inning, the Knights got their game going.
Freshman Elyse Cordova led things off with a doubled to left field and advanced to third on a single by freshman Lauren Stover. Stover then stole second to get herself in scoring position. Junior Genna Allen then singled to left field to score Cordova. Later in the inning, ART U had bases loaded with two outs, and sophomore Jayme Stewart came up with a clutch single to left-center field to score Stover and Allen. And the Urban Knights didn't stop there. They tacked on four more runs in the top of the sixth to take a large lead over the Penguins. Dominican scored once in the sixth, and then managed to string several hits together in the bottom of the seventh to score three more times, but that would not be enough to catch the Knights. ART U came away with the victory winning by a final score of 8-6.
Freshman Katie Brooks was on the mound for the Knights and pitched a great game. She went all seven innings allowing 11 hits, six runs (three earned), and posted two strikeouts. After recording the win in the game, Brooks' record improves to 7-4.
“Yesterday at practice Katie made some good adjustments and was really feeling comfortable and confident on the mound. So today the plan was to bring those adjustments into the game. She did a very good job today, and will continue to be successful as she gets even more comfortable making adjustments throughout the game,” said Sherman.
Leading ART U offensively was Cordova who went 2-4 with a double, a home run, two runs, and two runs batted in. Allen also did very well going 2-4 with a stolen base, two runs, and one RBI. Every single Urban Knight batter recorded a hit in the game.
For the Penguins, Crystal Albert went 4-4 with one run, and Kayleigh Klingberg went 2-4 with a triple, one run, and two runs batted in. Jessi Saaty received the loss in the game going 5.1 innings allowing eight hits, seven runs, and had three strikeouts.
The Urban Knights scored eight runs on 11 hits, committed three errors, and left nine runners on base.
Academy of Art University acted as the home team in game two per PacWest rules, and got into trouble early. Again their defense was faulty and they relied on their offense to get them out of trouble. Dominican scored two runs in the top of the first inning to take an early lead. But ART U came right back and scored twice in the bottom of the inning to tie things up. But the Penguins fought back and posted five runs of their own in the top of the second to re-take the lead.
The Urban Knights didn't let up, and their bats stayed hot as they rallied in three runs in the bottom of the second. Again Dominican took advantage of errors and tacked on three runs in the top of the third to take a 10-5 lead in the game. Still the Knights kept chipping away when they scored once in the bottom of the inning, and then tied the game at 10 when they pushed across four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning sparked by a two-out single by Nicole Smith, and an RBI by sophomore Jayme Stewart.
After a pitching change, ART U managed to hold the Penguins scoreless in the last four innings of the game. And the Urban Knights' offense kept working, as they managed one run in the fifth, and one in the sixth to take a two run lead. The Knights' defense settled in, and backed the pitching performance of freshman Katie Brooks to shut the Penguins down for the rest of the game. At the end of the slugfest, ART U overcame a five run deficit, and scored a season high 12 runs, to take the game with a final score of 12-10.
The Urban Knights scored at least one run in every inning in game two. The team was led by senior Alana Aweau who went 4-5 with a double, a stolen base, two runs, and two runs batted in. Sophomore Julie Martin also had a great game going 4-4 with a double, three runs scored, and two RBI. Junior Genna Allen, junior Melissa Coe, and Smith each went 2-4 in the game. For the second consecutive time, every ART U batter recorded a hit in the game.
“I think Alana did a very good job today in her at bats,” added Coach Sherman. “She stayed patient, and threw her hands to the ball giving her a great outcome in game two, which shows how much of a threat she is in our lineup when she does that.”
Sophomore Kimberly Dauer started in the circle for the Knights. She went 2.2 innings allowing 11 hits, and seven earned runs. Brooks came in for relief and went 4.1 innings giving up just five hits, no runs, and had two strikeouts. Brooks received the win in the game.
For Dominican, Crystal Albert again did well going 5-5 with three runs, and one RBI, Kayleigh Klingberg went 3-5 with a triple, a double, two runs and six RBI, and both Molly Howard and Dominique Perry went 2-4 in the game. Receiving the loss was Jessi Saaty who came in for relief. She went 2.1 innings allowing seven hits, and four runs.
The Urban Knights scored 12 runs, on 19 hits, had three errors, and left 10 runners on base.
After the sweep, the Academy of Art University's record improves to 27-17 overall, and 15-9 in the PacWest, while Dominican University's record falls to 2-38 overall and 1-22 in conference. The Knights play their last non-conference game on Wednesday, April 27th against Holy Names University. The game has now been changed to a single game instead of the original scheduled double-header. Game time is set for 5:00pm at Thrasher Filed in Oakland, CA.
