Box Score #1
Box Score #2

Photo Gallery (images by Christor Lukasiewicz)

Brisbane, CA – After stellar defense and timely offense throughout the day, Urban Knights Softball nearly swept its Sunday doubleheader with Dixie State. An offensive surge in which senior infielder Genna Allen crushed a three-run homer came midway through the opening contest and Academy of Art would go on to take the 5-4 victory. Game two was a tight battle until the Knights plated three in the fifth, but DSC's own three-run rally came late and wound up being the difference in another 5-4 result.

“I think we had great fight all weekend,” head coach Rachel Sherman said. “I am very proud of the determination and grit everybody showed. Every game had a team effort.”

Dixie State got ahead early in the first game with a 4-0 advantage by the end of the second inning thanks to an Anna Cue solo home run which initiated a three-run rally. Though the Red Storm starting pitcher Mattie Snow (3-4) appeared to find her rhythm with a 1-2-3 second, she was then rocked by four runs on four ART U (7-16 overall, 3-6 PacWest) hits in the third. Senior outfielder Ashley Lokey got it started with a one-out double to left, sophomore infielder Lauren Stover then worked a single out of a seven-pitch at-bat, and then freshman infielder Taylor Thurman brought home Lokey on a single to right.

With two runners still aboard waiting to score, Allen came to the plate with two outs and smashed a clutch three-run homer beyond the left field fence to tie the game 4-4. It was the senior's fifth long ball of the year and now has her just two shy of the mark she set for the entire 2011 season.

“Genna's power is great to see,” Coach Sherman said. “When she makes solid contact, the ball has no chance. She can do a lot of things at the plate and I predict she doubles her home run total from last year.”

As the game hung in the balance, junior starting pitcher Kimberly Dauer (5-6) and the Academy of Art defense worked to post an important shutdown inning in the fourth before the Knights scored the go-ahead run in the bottom half. A bunt single by sophomore outfielder Elyse Cordova was followed by a sacrifice bunt from senior outfielder Melissa Coe and later Lokey completed the trio of outfielder contributions with a RBI single.

Now up 5-4 in the fifth, ART U was looking for nine more outs to earn a victory. Dauer answered the call by denying a single Dixie hit in those final three innings and retired six of the game's last eight batters. The end result of the third part of this Pacific West Conference weekend series was a 5-4 win for the Knights.


Using the momentum of its game one victory, Academy of Art moved ahead 1-0 in the first inning of the second contest when Lokey hit a leadoff triple and promptly scored on a Stover single. The Knights would leave the bases loaded that inning as their patience combined with Red Storm starter Michelle Duncan's struggle to find the strikezone was an early theme.

Two more Urban Knights reached base in the second, but it was not until the third when the next run by either team was scored. Dixie scored one in the third and one in the fourth, but both came on outs as ART U starter Haily MacDonald (1-3) continued to keep the DSC hitters off balance. Academy of Art also had impressive defensive plays to deny opportunities for the Red Storm including a bullet thrown by junior catcher Andrea Hanchey to catch Nicole Chavez at third and end the second inning. Coe would later throw out a Dixie hitter at first, a play rarely seen in baseball or softball.

“This weekend was a highlight reel defensively,” Coach Sherman said. “Elyse's catch in left, Lokey robbing a home run in center, Coe throwing out the runner at first and Dre picking off the runner third; all those plays were momentum killers for Dixie and huge for us. Our outfield has been doing a great job out there and today you could really see just how good we are in the grass.”

The Knights used those momentum changers and retook the lead in the fifth with a three-run rally. The hits came hard and fast as ART U chased DSC's starter before junior infielder Nicole Smith delivered an RBI single which ended up scoring two and Cordova also knocked an RBI single to make it 4-2 Academy of Art. The bases were again left loaded, however, as the rally could have been extended further. That 4-2 advantage held up until the bottom of the seventh when Dixie State came from behind with its own three-run burst. Starting with back-to-back doubles, the Red Storm scored two more on a suicide squeeze bunt play and an RBI single to end things at 5-4 DSC.

In addition to Allen's big hit and three RBIs, Lokey spearheaded the ART U offense with a 3-for-5 day which included a triple, a double, two runs scored, an RBI, and a stolen base. Thurman was 1-for-3 with an RBI in the first contest and Stover added a 2-for-4 performance with an RBI in the second game. Cordova, who is now hitting .429 for the season, had her eighth multi-hit game in the series finale, going 3-for-4 with an RBI and a stolen base. Smith added an RBI in her 1-for-4 game two.

Both Dauer and MacDonald had strong complete game outings Sunday. Dauer opened with 7.0 innings pitched and surrendered just two earned runs on seven hits. She repeatedly attacked the zone, throwing 126 strikes versus 81 balls and limited a dangerous top of the Dixie batting order to a 2-for-12 performance. MacDonald allowed four earned runs through 6.1 innings with two strikeouts and would have captured the victory if not for DSC's late rally.

“Kim and Haily threw great games,” Coach Sherman said. “It's not easy to face the same team three times in a weekend and Kim did a great job keeping them off balance again and pushed through being tired. Haily had another good showing against a very strong team. I'm excited for her future on the mound and really wish we were able to pull that win out for her.”

After the series, Dixie State still shares a 3-5 PacWest record with the Knights and now sits at 8-7 overall this season. Cue had the team's only home run on the day and finished game one 1-for-3 with an RBI and run scored while Kylee Higgins added a 3-for-4, two RBI game two to lead the Red Storm. Snow sustained the loss in game one after allowing five runs on six hits in 4.0 innings pitched while striking out one. Lauren Folta (3-3) earned a relief win in game two with one run allowed on four hits in 2.2 innings pitched with three strikeouts.

Academy of Art University softball now heads to Hawaii for a 12-game roadtrip which features matchups with Hawaii-Hilo (Mar. 16), Hawaii Pacific (Mar. 18-19), Chaminade (Mar. 21), and BYU-Hawaii (Mar. 23-24).