Games #5 & 6
ART U Urban Knights (1-3) vs. Sonoma State Seawolves (5-3)
Wednesday, February 19, 2014 at 1:00 PM
Brisbane, CA – Mission Blue Field
Live Stats

Games #7 & 8
ART U Urban Knights (1-3) vs. NDNU Argos (4-5)
Saturday, February 22, 2014 at 1:00 PM
Belmont, CA – Notre Dame High School
Live Stats

Games #9 & 10
ART U Urban Knights (1-3) vs. Central Washington Wildcats (5-0)
Sunday, February 23, 2014 at 12:00 PM
Brisbane, CA – Mission Blue Field
Live Stats

ACADEMY OF ART GETS SSU, CWU AT HOME AND NDNU ON ROAD
It will be a busy week for ART U Softball as Academy of Art looks to build off its first win of the season with matchups against Sonoma State, Notre Dame de Namur, and Central Washington in a stretch of six games in five days.

FIRST PITCH
The Urban Knights play host to Sonoma State on Wednesday, Feb. 19 at Mission Blue Field with a new doubleheader start time of 1:00 PM. Then, on Saturday, Feb. 22, ART U travels slightly south to Belmont for its first Pacific West Conference games at Notre de Namur. That doubleheader also begins at 1:00 PM at Notre Dame High School. The next day, Sunday, Feb. 23, Academy of Art will be back at Mission Blue for a 12:00 PM start to a doubleheader with Central Washington. Live Stats will be available for all games at the links above. Remember to follow @ARTU_Knights on Twitter & Instagram and "Like" the Urban Knights on Facebook for score updates, videos, and recaps.

KNIGHT WATCH
With two series complete thus far in 2014, Kamyle Glover remains the team leader in batting average, hitting at a .444 clip (4-for-9). She has two extra base hits and two RBIs for a .778 slugging percentage. The tandem who share the same name, Elyse Cordova and Elise Oldham, enter Wednesday's action hitting .308 (4-for-13) and .250 (3-for-12) respectively while Jessica West is at .333 (2-for-6).

Both ART U pitchers turned in strong performances against SF State as Jill Johnson (1-1) picked up her first win with a complete game effort that saw two runs allowed on eight hits with six strikeouts. Carlee Emerson (0-2) allowed just a single run on four hits. Johnson sports a 2.00 ERA on the year and has registered 10 strikeouts in 14.0 innings.

STATE OF SONOMA
After going as far as the NCAA DII Softball West Regional 2 with a 37-21 overall record, Sonoma State has put up a 5-3 record thus far. The Seawolves started by sweeping Dominican 6-0 and 11-8 for their first two wins of the year on Feb. 5. After rain canceled a matchup with Saint Martin's whom ART U was also supposed to play, SSU stayed undefeated with back-to-back shutouts of Notre Dame de Namur, 5-0 and 7-0. In the four-game series with Cal State Monterey Bay that followed, Sonoma won the opener 4-3, but fell in the next three including a nine-inning 6-5 heartbreaker. To date, Hayley Condon is the team's best hitter with a .414 average, 10 RBIs, three doubles, four stolen bases, and seven runs scored. Although they no longer have All-American and four-time All-Region selection Samantha Lipperd in the circle, SSU's Amanda Llerena (3-2) has posted a 1.75 ERA in four starts with 28 strikeouts in 28.0 innings. When the Knights and Seawolves met last year, Kimberly Dauer went toe-to-toe with Lipperd, but Sonoma State swept the close series 1-0 and 6-1 to take a 7-1 advantage in the all-time series.

NOTRE DAME NOTED
The Argonauts, who finished third in the PacWest last year sporting a 34-18 overall record, is currently sitting a shade under .500. Notre Dame de Namur will face Cal State East Bay prior to Academy of Art this week, but thus far in 2014, NDNU struggled in its two matchups with CCAA opponents (falling twice to both Humboldt State and Sonoma State). On the other hand, when the Argos traveled to Las Vegas for the MSU Billings Desert Stinger, they won four of five games, edging Adams State 3-2, dominating Western New Mexico 7-3 and University of Mary 8-0 before a high-scoring 14-12 win over Black Hills State, In their final game, NDNU fell 8-4 to Fort Lewis College causing them to have a .444 winning percentage. The team is led by Breanna Young's bat which is responsible for a .360 average (9-for-25), four home runs (3rd in PacWest), 11 RBIs (5th in PacWest), and six runs scored. Defensively, the Argos offer Jenna Bassler (2-1) who, in four starts, has posted a 1.83 ERA with 24 strikeouts in 23 innings. ART U saw NDNU five times last season, splitting a March matchup, defeating the Argos 4-3 at the end of the Tournament of Champions, but then falling in two on Senior Day. The teams have always played even as the Argos clutch an 11-9 advantage in the all-time series.

WATCHING CENTRAL WASHINGTON
The Wildcats have won their first five games of 2014, a streak they had only once during a 2013 campaign that saw them go 20-20 overall with a loss to Simon Fraser in the GNAC Conference Tournament to end their run. After a perfect run through the Desert Stinger that included two 10-run wins (10-3 over UC-Colorado Springs, 10-7 over Cal State San Bernardino), CWU has Holy Names and Dominican coming up this week. The squad has seven players hitting over .300 including Jill McDaniels who also has three home runs and six RBIs. McDaniels' .375 average and RBI total are identical to that of Kailyn Campbell. In the circle, Central Washington has relied heavily on Kiana Wood (3-0) who sports a 0.73 ERA with 20 strikeouts in 24.2 innings pitched. In the teams' first two meetings to date last year, they split with ART U rallying late to win 8-7 in the Desert Stinger, but CWU coming back to take a 4-3 victory in the Tournament of Champions.

SOFTBALL NOTCHES FIRST WIN IN SPLIT WITH SF STATE
A pair of strong pitching performances combined with the necessary situational hitting to earn ART U Softball its first victory of 2014, a 3-2 final in game two against SF State on Feb. 12. The battle of San Francisco schools began with the Gators edging Academy of Art 1-0 despite Carlee Emerson's complete game with four hits allowed. However, the Urban Knights rallied back in game two behind another inspired start from Jill Johnson, key hits by Lauren Stover and Taylor Thurman in a third inning rally, and spectacular defensive plays from Elyse Cordova which included a play at the plate to end the game.

ON DECK
ART U continues its home-heavy first half of the season with Cal State East Bay (Feb. 26) and Dominican (Mar. 1) coming to Mission Blue Field next week. Fans will be able to ride to the Mar. 1 game on a 1:00 PM FAN BUS. Sign up here!