SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – In its penultimate Pacific West Conference series, Academy of Art University softball bounced back from a tough 3-2 loss in extra innings of game one with a 15-hit, 14-run offensive explosion in the second contest. The Urban Knights would score multiple runs in five of seven innings and went on to win 14-9 to split the Saturday at Penguin Field.
"We competed well today," said head coach
Sonja Garnett. "Our pitchers threw well both games. We made an early adjustment at the plate game two and executed our jobs at the plate."
GAME 1 – DOMINICAN 3, ART U 2 (8)
Both offenses were quiet early with freshman pitcher
Hannah Rose Balke (21-9) and Katelyn Harden (13-8) collectively retiring the first nine batters of the game. Unfortunately for Academy of Art, the contest's third hit was a solo home run by Kartiza Reyes in the fourth. The Knights led off the sixth with a double from redshirt freshman catcher
Adrianna Rupright and later got her in on an error off a single hit by freshman infielder
Gracie Sotomayor. Though each team got a runner to third with one out in the seventh, crucial outs were registered by both defenses.
Tied 1-1 in the eighth, ART U struck first with a leadoff single by junior
Brenna Mitchell, two groundouts, and finally a run-scoring single from sophomore outfielder
Juliana Lopez. Balke struck out two batters, but allowed two singles in the bottom half and a game-changing error allowed both runners to score, creating a walkoff 3-2 win for Dominican.
GAME 2 – ART U 14, DOMINICAN 9
Itching to unleash its offense, Academy of Art began the second contest with three runs in the first on run-scoring bunt singles by freshman infielder
Freddie Carrillo and sophomore infielder
Brenna Youngquist as well as a Rupright sacrifice fly.
The 3-0 lead held until the second when the Penguins plated two on two errors and a hit, but the Knights came right back with a two-run double from Rupright in the third. Dominican scraped one across in the bottom of that inning only to see ART U rally for four more in the fourth. After Lopez hit a run-scoring single, three more came in on two errors plus a groundout.
A 9-3 lead for the visitors grew to 12-5 in the sixth when junior infielder
Samantha Klune singled home Carrillo and sophomore outfielder
Katie Tablada, who had entered as a defensive replacement in the previous inning, doubled home two more.
The Penguins continued to score in response yet so did Academy of Art. Run-scoring singles from Youngquist and Klune in the top of the seventh put ART U ahead 14-6 and, despite a three-run rally from Dominican in the bottom half, the Knights would hold on to prevail 14-9 for the split.
"We were resilient today and bounced back well after a tough loss in game one," said Garnett. "Everyone stepped up and played for the team in game two. We had good base-running and came up clutch with runners on."
Exiting the split now 25-23 overall and 17-13 in PacWest play, ART U was led by six Knights with multi-hit games in the finale. Rupright went 2-for-4 with a double plus three runs batted in, Carrillo and Youngquist were each 3-for-5 with two driven in apiece, Klune was 2-for-4 with two RBIs, and Lopez and West were each 2-for-5 with one RBI apiece. Tablada added a pair of runs driven in with a double in her 1-for-1 effort. Senior pitcher
Alexa Peters (2-3) picked up the victory after going 4.1 innings in her sixth start of the year while allowing two earned runs.
Dominican moves to 19-27 overall and 16-14 in conference with the day's results. Harden picked up the complete game victory in the opener with two runs allowed on six hits and four strikeouts in 8.0 innings pitched. Alyssa Lanza went 4-for-4 in game two and Haley Cheek added a 3-for-3 performance that included a home run and two RBIs.
The Urban Knights have one final trip on their 2017 schedule. They'll head to Utah to match up with Dixie State on Apr. 29.
"We are looking forward to Dixie," said Garnett. "We want to end the year strong for our seniors so we need to prepare well and stay focused on our goals. I am very proud of the way our athletes have played together this year and I want them to end with two games they are proud of."
