Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

TURLOCK, Calif. – In a day of rematches at the Tournament of Champions, Academy of Art University softball dominated Chaminade to the tune of a run-ruled 13-3 win before a tightly played finale saw Western Oregon prevail 3-1. Senior outfielder Haily MacDonald was named to the All-Tournament Team after she capped a weekend hitting .560 with her first career grand slam against the Silverswords during an eight-run swing in the final two innings. A 1-1 tie for three-plus innings, game two turned in favor of the Wolves with a two-run rally in the seventh.

GRAND SLAM!!! Haily MacDonald crushes one to right and @ARTUSoftball goes up 10-3 in T5! PacWestSB ArtSchool ARTUSBFam HummHaily #LegendOfHailyMac A video posted by Be Artist. Be Athlete. (@artu_knights) on Mar 29, 2015 at 1:06pm PDT

"The team carried the momentum from yesterday into these games," said head coach Sonja Garnett. "They continue to push the issue offensively and our defense is getting stronger. We encourage them to be aggressive in all aspects of the game and they are starting to own that concept."

GAME ONE
The Urban Knights went right to work in the first inning against Chaminade and it started with MacDonald earning a walk then stealing her ninth base of the weekend. With her and senior infielder Kamyle Glover aboard, the hits began rolling in as sophomore outfielder Jessica West offered a RBI single, junior catcher Elise Oldham singled in two, senior infielder Taylor Thurman tripled home Oldham, and freshman infielder Samantha Klune capped the rally with a RBI single.

Though Chaminade threatened ART U's 5-0 lead in the bottom of the first, Glover was able to exit the jam with a pair of outs to preserve the advantage. The Silverswords would load the bases once more in the second, but again the Academy of Art pitching and defense combined to post another zero for its opponent.

CUH's Brett Aspel (3-10) found her rhythm after a shaky first inning and she was supported by three runs in the bottom of the third thanks to a Nicole Erichsen two-run triple followed by Theresa Capllonch's run-scoring single. The 5-3 game lasted until the fifth when the Knights dropped the hammer.

Three consecutive two-out singles came from Klune, graduate student catcher Nirana Singh, and senior infielder Jasmine Dickenson to set up a four-pitch walk to sophomore outfielder Hallie Curtis, bringing in the first run. One pitch later, MacDonald drilled one over the right field fence and soon embraced her team at home plate for an emotional grand slam that put ART U ahead 10-3.

"All I wanted to do was hit the ball hard somewhere to give my team the best chance to extend our lead," said MacDonald. "Out of the box, I didn't think it was going to go out. In all honesty, I didn't realize the ball cleared the fence until I was almost at second base. Before every game my dad has a running joke with me. He always tells me, 'Don't hit a home run until I am there watching.' He has told me this joke a lot this spring because he has not been able to be at as many games as he would like to be. Both my dad and mom were in attendance today so this was a really special moment for me to share with them and my team."

It was just the second home run of MacDonald's collegiate career and her first since 2012.

"Haily MacDonald is having a standout year," said Garnett. "She is confident and has all the tools. I knew she was going to deliver, but to see her go deep at such a clutch moment was huge. It gave the team the momentum we needed to clinch the first game."

In the sixth, Academy of Art used Thurman's second triple of the day (the third and fourth of her career) to bring in two more runs and a Klune RBI groundout for a 13-3 margin. Chaminade was given one chance to shorten the lead under eight runs in the sixth, but Glover and the defense finished things off to assure ART U one more game in the Tournament of Champions.

GAME TWO
In the finale of the consolation bracket, Academy of Art faced off against Western Oregon and it was the Wolves who jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a run-scoring single by Jourdan Williams in the first. Freshman Brenna Mitchell (12-10) did not allow another ball out of the infield until the fifth inning and proceeded to retire eight in a row at one point.

The third inning saw ART U tie things up on a suicide squeeze play in which Curtis bunted home Singh from third base. WOU employed the combination of Lizzet Dominguez (3-4) and Sammi Cadwallader (2-5) to match Mitchell and the teams exchanged three scoreless innings from that point.

The Knights freshman would strike out five in her complete 7.0 innings, but ran into trouble in the seventh when the Wolves strung together three hits for a two-out rally. Two singles and a double produced two more runs and a 3-1 lead for WOU. Academy of Art brought the tying run to the plate after Singh singled her way aboard, but two consecutive outs ended it with Western Oregon on top.

"This is always a great tournament; well-organized and competitive," said Garnett. "It was good to see how we compete with other teams in the region."