Game #24 & 25
ART U Urban Knights (7-16, 3-5 PWC) vs. UHH Vulcans (12-1, 7-0 PWC)
Friday, March 16, 2012 at 12:00 & 2:00 PM HST
Hilo, HI – UHH Softball Field

Games #26 & 27
ART U Urban Knights (7-16, 3-5 PWC) vs. HPU Sea Warriors (13-5, 7-1 PWC)
Sunday, March 18, 2012 at 12:00 & 2:00 PM HST
Honolulu, HI – Howard A. Okita Field
Live Stats
Live Video
Twitter Updates

Games #28 & 29
ART U Urban Knights (7-16, 3-5 PWC) vs. HPU Sea Warriors (13-5, 7-1 PWC)
Monday, March 19, 2012 at 1:00 & 3:00 PM HST
Honolulu, HI – Howard A. Okita Field
Live Stats
Live Video
Twitter Updates

Games #30 & 31
ART U Urban Knights (7-16, 3-5 PWC) vs. CUH Silverswords (6-8, 5-3 PWC)
Wednesday, March 21, 2012 at 4:30 & 6:30 PM HST
Honolulu, HI – Central Oahu Regional Park
Live Stats
Live Audio
Twitter Updates

Games #32 & 33
ART U Urban Knights (7-16, 3-5 PWC) vs. BYU-Hawaii Seasiders (7-7, 4-6 PWC)
Friday, March 23, 2012 at 1:00 & 3:00 PM HST
Laie, HI – BYUH Softball Field

Games #34 & 35
ART U Urban Knights (7-16, 3-5 PWC) vs. BYU-Hawaii Seasiders (7-7, 4-6 PWC)
Saturday, March 24, 2012 at 12:00 & 2:00 PM HST
Laie, HI – BYUH Softball Field

ART U TO PLAY ROUGHLY ONE FOURTH OF SEASON IN HAWAII
Now on the verge of the midpoint of their 2012 season, the Urban Knights make their way to the Hawaiian Islands for a 12-game roadtrip which represents the longest in Academy of Art University's four-year history. ART U comes off a series split with Dixie State and is set to face Pacific West Conference opponents Hawaii-Hilo, Hawaii Pacific, Chaminade, and BYU-Hawaii before saying “Aloha” to the state of Hawaii.

FIRST PITCH
ART U's roadtrip begins on the Big Island where the Knights match up against Hawaii-Hilo for a pair of games on Friday, Mar. 16. That doubleheader will begin at 12:00 PM HST (3:00 PM PST) at UHH Softball Field. Then, after traveling to Honolulu, it will be a four-game swing pitting Academy of Art against HPU starting with a 12:00 PM HST (3:00 PM PST) doubleheader at Howard A. Okita Field on Sunday, Mar. 18. The second doubleheader is a day later on Monday, Mar. 19 and will begin at 1:00 PM HST (4:00 PM PST).

The schedule has a doubleheader between ART U and Chaminade next on Wednesday, Mar. 21 out at Central Oahu Regional Park beginning at 4:30 PM HST (7:30 PM PST). Finally, the Knights partake in a four-game series versus BYU-Hawaii with a Friday, Mar. 23 doubleheader kicking it off at 1:00 PM HST (4:00 PM PST) and a Saturday, Mar. 24 twinbill to follow at 12:00 PM HST (3:00 PM PST) all out at BYUH Softball Field in Laie. Various forms of live coverage will be available including Live Stats, Twitter updates, and some Live Audio/Video (see above). Remember to check @UrbanKnightNews on Twitter for score updates and recaps. Also become a fan of the Knights on Facebook by 'Like'-ing the Urban Knights page.

KNIGHT WATCH
ART U continues to receive offensive production from a variety of bats this season. Senior outfielder Ashley Lokey, who was named PacWest Player of the Week, seems to demonstrate her five tools throughout every game and now leads the team in runs scored (23, 1st in PacWest), slugging percentage (.747, 3rd in PacWest), on-base percentage (.483, 3rd in PacWest), triples (3, 2nd in PacWest), walks (12, 2nd in PacWest), and outfield assists (5) in addition to being tied for the team-high with five home runs and 17 runs batted in. Her .400 batting average ranks 6th in the PacWest and rose throughout the DSC series where she was 6-for-12 (.526) with two home runs, five RBIs, and a run scored in each game. Still with the highest batting average on the team (.429, 3rd in PacWest), sophomore outfielder Elyse Cordova finished off the Dixie series with a 3-for-4 outing (her fourth three-hit game in 2012) while stealing her eighth base of the year (3rd in PacWest). Sophomore infielder Lauren Stover recently posted the Knights' longest hit streak of the season with her 10-game stretch which featured all but one of her team-high seven doubles and raised her batting average to its current .303 clip. Senior infielder Genna Allen homered for the fifth time this past weekend and now has 17 RBIs in her 22 games played.

Junior starting pitcher Kimberly Dauer (5-6) has made the most starts for Academy of Art (11) and she has thrown well through a team-high 75.1 innings pitched. Two strong starts against Dixie helped drop her ERA to a team-best 3.62 on the year. In the PacWest, she is now 3rd in innings pitched, 4th in complete games (8), 5th in strikeouts (35).

HALTING HAWAII-HILO
For a Vulcans team that sits atop the PacWest standings with a 7-0 conference record, Hawaii-Hilo has used an 11-game win streak to get to where it is today. UHH's only loss of the season came 7-5 against Cal State Stanislaus back on Feb. 7 and, since that time, Hawaii-Hilo topped CSUS four more times then defeated NDNU, Dominican, and BYU-Hawaii. However, for all their success, the Vulcans have only played games at home this season and do not leave Hilo until after their doubleheader with Academy of Art. The team is led offensively by Aisha Sueda who is hitting an incredible .512 thus far (1st in PacWest) with 20 RBIs. She is supported by Emily Greene's .405 batting average and team-high 21 RBIs. On the mound, the Vulcans have PacWest Pitcher of the Week Amber Waracka (6-0) who is currently leading the squad with a 1.61 ERA and 50 strikeouts over 44.2 innings pitched. However, it is Jessica Pepin (3-1) who earlier this season threw a no-hitter against Dominican. Historically, the UHH leads the series with Academy of Art 4-2.

SILENCING THE SEA WARRIORS
After beginning the season with a six-game win streak, Hawaii Pacific has maintained a winning record throughout 2012. HPU swept Pacific Lutheran, Chaminade, and BYU-Hawaii to start off its campaign, but suffered two one-run losses at the hands of Cal State Dominguez Hills after that. The Sea Warriors would go on to split with #11 Azusa Pacific and Cal Baptist before winning five of their last six contest most recently. On their current homestand, Hawaii Pacific has defeated NDNU, La Verne (CA), and BYU-Hawaii. The team, which has had success through high averages rather than home runs, is led by Erin Fujita's .409 batting average and 14 RBIs from Nicole Morrow. On the mound, Breanne Patton (9-1) owns a team-best 1.62 ERA through 60.2 innings pitched and 37 strikeouts. HPU holds a 6-2 series edge versus ART U, but the teams split a pair last season in which the Sea Warriors were defending National Champions.

SHEATHING THE SILVERSWORDS
Currently in the middle of the PacWest standings with a 5-3 conference record, Chaminade struggled early in the year and has had more success since the start of March. After opening with one win in their first six games played, the Silverswords found a bit of a groove with four consecutive wins in series with Dominican and NDNU. In Hawaii until Mar. 24, CUH most recently fell twice to BYU-Hawaii and split with the Argonatus. As of Mar. 4, the team was being paced by Rayna Strom-Okimoto's .476 batting average and eight RBIs. Defensively, Kaitlyn Watanabe (2-2) boasted a 4.92 ERA and Brett Aspel (1-3) was not far behind with a 5.01 ERA and 14 strikeouts in 22.1 innings pitched at that time. Academy of Art has the advantage in the series with Chaminade, leading 6-2 historically.

THE SEE-SAWING SEASIDERS
Like the three former Hawaii schools, BYU-Hawaii has not left the islands thus far in 2012. The Seasiders opened the year by winning three of their first four including a sweep of Chaminade. However, four losses followed as BYUH was swept by HPU and NDNU. The season see-sawed back to a positive for BYU-Hawaii with series sweeps of Dominican and Chaminade, but the team then sustained a combined four consecutive losses to Hawaii-Hilo and Hawaii Pacific. Lindsay Robison currently sports the Seasiders' top batting average (.353) to go with 11 RBIs while Tiffanee Frampton offers a team-high 13 RBIs, eight doubles, and a .309 batting average in addition to her pitching success. Frampton could be considered one of two aces for HPU with her 3.24 ERA and 4-4 record. Supporting Framption has been Gabrielle Hawkins (3-5) and her 3.92 ERA. The Knights and Seasiders continue their series which historically favors ART U 6-4.

KNIGHTS SPLIT WEEKEND SERIES WITH DIXIE
Coming into this past weekend, both Academy of Art and Dixie State sported the identical PacWest records and, when the four-game series was complete, both teams still had the same conference records. In a matchup where momentum seemed to swing back and forth in each contest, the opener was a pitcher's duel (Kim Dauer vs. Mattie Snow) which was finally all settled in the seventh inning when DSC homered to go up 1-0, but ART U responded with a pair of homers to win 3-1. Lokey and freshman infielder Taylor Thurman each went deep to give the Knights an early victory. In game two, a quick 4-0 lead by Dixie held up through the fourth inning before Academy of Art scored three in the fifth highlighted by a two-run blast from Lokey. The Red Storm, however, would finish what they started with another three-run rally and went on to win 8-5.

On day two, Mar. 11, Dixie State again got ahead 4-0 in the first two innings, but it was a 4-4 ballgame when the Knights reeled off four in the third thanks in large part to Allen's three-run homer. After a Lokey RBI double in the fourth broke the tie, ART U stayed in front thanks to stellar pitching from Dauer who denied even a hit from DSC in the final three innings. The Red Storm tried to forget Academy of Art's 5-4 victory in game one when they took a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning of the second contest. However, a lengthy fifth frame saw the Knights plate three runs to go ahead 4-2 in support of freshman starting pitcher Haily MacDonald (1-3) who had arguably her best start of the year Sunday. Despite the ART U advantage, Dixie came back with a three-run burst in the bottom of the seventh to post their own 5-4 win.

LOOKING AHEAD
Academy of Art will recuperate from its intense Hawaii trip by having a week and a half without games (Mar. 25-Apr. 3). However, the Urban Knights will be back in action at home for a mid-week doubleheader against Holy Names on Apr. 4.