BRISBANE, Calif. – Taking Mission Blue Field for the first time this season on Saturday, Academy of Art softball unleashed 13 runs of offense on a combined 21 hits in a Pacific West Conference doubleheader sweep of Dominican. Junior catcher Lauryn Henderson launched her first home run of the year and drove in three as part of an 8-6 victory in the first game then sophomore pitcher Haley Arnold-Jolley (1-2) earned her first collegiate shutout with no walks and just four hits allowed in a 5-0 win to end the day.

GAME 1 – ART U 8, DU 6
The Urban Knights were the first to score as freshman infielder Haley Randall proceeded to steal two bases after reaching on an error and senior infielder Dominique Seva'aetasi promptly brought her home on a double in the bottom of the first inning. After Dominican tied things up in the second, an action-packed third saw the Penguins go up 2-1 initially, but three hits including a two-run single from Henderson produced three runs and a 4-2 lead for Academy of Art.

That margin grew massively in the fifth when Henderson struck for a solo home run and, two stolen bases later, freshman outfielder Emily Montes plated one on a bunt before sophomore infielder Cassandra Mittman drove in two more on a single down the left field line. The 8-3 advantage was subsequently threatened in the inning that followed as Dominican shortened the gap to 8-6, but senior pitcher Hannah Rose Balke (2-8) ended the contest one frame later by inducing a crucial flyout with the tying run at second.

GAME 2 – ART U 5, DU 0
Two errors and a double by junior infielder Cecilia Lopez led to two runs being scored in the opening inning of the second contest, effectively putting starter Arnold-Jolley in a position to pitch aggressively. Arnold-Jolley proceeded to shut down the Penguins in order in the second before dodging a scoring opportunity for the visitors in the third.

The fourth inning saw Academy of Art utilize its speed with junior outfielder Alyssa Rasmussen singling her way on, being bunted to second, and eventually scoring on a single by senior infielder Gracie Sotomayor. After the ART U defense turned an energizing double play behind Arnold-Jolley in the fifth, the offense was sparked by Henderson's leadoff single and a stolen base to set up Lopez for the run-scoring single up the middle.

Arnold-Jolley struck out the last two batters she faced in the sixth and was rewarded with another insurance run in the sixth when Sotomayor smashed her sixth career triple to enter into a tie with Ashley Lokey for third in ART U history, bringing home Rasmussen once again. Supported by five runs of offense, Arnold-Jolley needed just three pitches to retire the side in the seventh and complete the sweep on a 5-0 final score. She ended up surrendering just four hits and walking none for her first shutout in a career-high 7.0 innings pitched.

Moving Academy of Art to 3-14 overall and 2-4 in PacWest play, the tandem of Henderson (3-for-7) and Lopez (5-for-8) each drove in three on the day with the former adding her first home run and the latter connecting for her second double of the season. In an opening contest in which all Knights who started reached base, Randall swiped three bases as part of the team's season-high seven steals while Sotomayor finished 3-for-3 with two runs batted in, the triple, and a stolen base in the finale.

Despite coming in with five wins in its last six games, Dominican's two losses dropped the Penguins to 5-8 on the year and 2-2 in conference. Celeste Salas was the team's offensive leader, going 4-for-5 with a home run and four driven in across the doubleheader.

The second day of Academy of Art's 12-game homestand sees the Urban Knights match up with Holy Names on Thursday, Mar. 5 at noon back at Mission Blue Field.