ST. GEORGE, Utah – Up against one of the most formidable offenses in the Pacific West Conference on Saturday, Academy of Art University Softball found itself unable to recover from early rallies by No. 24 Dixie State. Game one went the way of the Trailblazers 15-0 after a seven-run first and a four-run lead through two innings of the season finale headed to a 10-2 win for DSU also in five innings.
GAME 1 – DSU 15, ART U 0 (5)
Despite putting two runners into scoring position to start the day on an error and freshman infielder
Freddie Carrillo's double, it was Dixie State that struck first in game one. Freshman pitcher
Hannah Rose Balke (21-11) started with a strikeout of the always dangerous leadoff threat Janessa Bassett, but walked the next three batters and was the victim of a Mallory Paulson grand slam shortly thereafter.
The lead was 7-0 by the end of the first, 9-0 after two, and a pinch-hit grand slam by Riley Tyteca in the third helped eventually push a 15-0 advantage. The Urban Knights threatened with back-to-back singles by redshirt freshman catcher
Adrianna Rupright and junior infielder
Samantha Klune in the fourth, the second of which loaded the bases with one out, but a double play ended the opportunity. The Trailblazers would go on to win after the top of the fifth.
GAME 2 – DSU 10, ART U 2 (5)
With a 4-0 lead built on a sacrifice fly, run-scoring single, and a two-run homer in the first two innings, Dixie State sat starter Brooklyn Beardshear (17-6) after her third inning of only isolated base-runners.
The lead became 9-0 in the fourth, but ART U broke through against reliever Alexis Barkwell with freshman outfielder
Gabi Hirsch walking, freshman infielder
Gracie Sotomayor hitting her 12th double of the year, and sophomore outfielder
Juliana Lopez singling both home. In the end, however, it was essentially a walk-off win for Dixie State when the eight-run margin was triggered on a single up the middle in the bottom of the fifth, ending game two 10-2.
For the Urban Knights, Sotomayor and Klune each had a hit in each game. Rupright was 2-for-2 in the opener and Lopez finished the second contest 2-for-3 with two runs batted in.
The No. 24 Trailblazers, now 39-12 overall and 24-8 in conference, were led by a total of 6.0 shutout innings from Beardshear plus six strikeouts. Offensively, Paulson, Tyteca, and Arista Honey each finished with four RBIs apiece on the day.
Academy of Art concludes its 2017 season with an even 25-25 overall record and ends 17-15 in PacWest Conference play for seventh place in the final standings.
