Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

Turlock, CA – Day two of the Tournament of Champions presented by Turlock Convention & Visitors Bureau saw Academy of Art University Softball almost get the revenge they were seeking against Sonoma State. A five-run ART U rally in the final inning brought the tying run to first base, but SSU held on for the 9-7 victory. Additionally, SF State defeated the Urban Knights 9-1 in five innings.

In the morning's opener with Sonoma, the Seawolves struck early with a pair of three-run rallies in the first and third innings to take a 6-0 lead. Double plays in the second and third frames shut down the potential for ART U's offense, but in the fourth singles by Kamyle Glover and Elyse Cordova set up a situation for a big hit from Elise Oldham. The sophomore launched a two-run double to right center and the score was 6-2.

Despite the breakthrough, SSU tacked on three more runs in the fourth and fifth to go up 9-2. The Knights found themselves in a bleak situation, but opened the seventh inning with four consecutive singles by Jessica West, Lexie Hernandez, Haily MacDonald, and finally the run-scoring one by Jasmine Dickenson. Glover then offered a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded and Taylor Thurman was soon hit by a pitch with them still loaded to score another.

After Sonoma State changed pitchers, an error on a play at the plate allowed another to come in and Lauren Stover then drove in Cordova on a fielder's choice. All in all, Academy of Art scored five times in the seventh to pull within two, but a final groundout after batting around ended the contest in favor of SSU 9-7.

"Our team is so exciting to watch when they make the decision as a team to compete and fight," co-head coach Sami Strinz said. "We made a valiant effort at the end but fell short."


ART U put two on in the opening inning against SF State, but it was the Gators who scored first with three unearned runs crossing home plate in the bottom half of the frame. The Knights then had another in scoring position after West's double in the second yet again SFSU held the line and scored two more on a pair of errors in the second.

The 5-0 lead became 9-0 in the third on a series of RBI singles before Carlee Emerson (3-9) came on to get the final out. Academy of Art would get runners into scoring position in each of its five innings, scoring once on Cordova's RBI single in the fifth, but a double play finished the game in that inning with SF State on top 9-1.

"We dug ourselves a hole that first inning by starting the game on an error with a few more to follow and never quite recovered," Coach Strinz said. "Our goal is to play one pitch at a time and unfortunately we failed to live that way in game two."

The 10-19 Urban Knights had Cordova bump up her hitting streak to 12 games with a two-multi hit performances Saturday, finishing 4-for-7 with a RBI and two runs scored. West's 2-for-6 day that included a double got her to a nine-game hitting streak while Thurman's RBI in the opener as part of a 3-for-5 twinbill was her team-high 29th on the year. Oldham added RBIs 17 and 18 on the season with her sixth double to start the day.

ART U returns for the final day of the Tournament of Champions playing host Cal State Stanislaus at 9:30 AM at Pedretti Park - Field 3 as part of the "Bronze Bracket."