SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Racking up more than 20 hits in its second straight doubleheader, Academy of Art softball pushed its win streak to four games with a sweep of Dominican out at Penguin Field on Friday. A two-run homer from graduate student infielder
Chelsea Sligh in the second inning of game one sparked a stretch of scoring rallies in every frame thereafter as ART U began the day with an 8-3 victory. Supporting the best start of the season from junior pitcher
Cecilia Lopez (2-1), the Urban Knights went ahead midway through game two and tacked on insurance runs late for the 5-1 win and the day's sweep.
"We were more aggressive earlier in the count, executed bunts, and had some clutch two-out hits today," said Head Coach
Nikki Gentile. "We had already seen [Dominican's] pitching staff so our hitters were more confident in general as well."
GAME 1 – ART U 8, DU 3
Staying hot from the homer-heavy doubleheader versus Holy Names on Mar. 20, Sligh broke a scoreless tie in the second inning with a two-run blast, but Dominican would come right back with three runs to go up 3-2 in their half of the second. The long ball struck again in the third, however, when junior utility
Neenah Pangilinan crushed her first home run of the season, a solo shot, to tie things up once again.
As senior
Hannah Rose Balke (3-3) found her rhythm with a scoreless third, Academy of Art moved in front on the first collegiate double and run batted in for freshman outfielder
Cailee Grayhorse-Pupecki in the fourth. Following a run-scoring single from freshman infielder
Haley Randall in the next inning, Balke needed just 11 pitches to retire the Penguins in order in the fifth. Grayhorse-Pupecki drove in another in the sixth and Lopez delivered her third RBI on a single in the seventh before Sligh's sacrifice fly capped the 8-3 victory.
Coming back after a brief departure, Balke was in the pitcher's circle to celebrate not only her third victory of the season, but also the 40th in her career. The Motion Pictures & Television major became the first to reach 40 wins in Academy of Art history, doing so with three runs allowed on five hits and a season-high seven strikeouts (one off her career-high).
GAME 2 – ART U 5, DU 1
The teams exchanged single-run rallies in the first inning of game two as junior catcher
Lauryn Henderson brought home graduate student outfielder
Gabi Hirsch after both singled and a sacrifice fly for Dominican had the score at 1-1 moving to the second.
After getting out of a jam in that frame, Lopez retired the Penguins in order in the third before her squad took the lead in the fourth. Back-to-back singles from Lopez herself and Sligh set up a run-scoring bunt from junior catcher
Alyssa Brundage to give the Knights a 2-1 advantage. That was all Lopez would need as she struck out consecutive hitters to author a shutdown inning thereafter then needed just 10 pitches to get out of the fifth.
"Cece had an awesome mix of pitches today," Gentile said. "Her changeup was working, and we worked hard this week on commanding the strike zone on the outside part of the plate on righties."
Brundage was back at it was a single following Sligh's double in the sixth and ART U's 3-1 lead became 5-1 in the final inning when Henderson doubled home a pair. As Lopez had been called upon in brief relief in the first contest, sophomore pitcher
Haley Arnold-Jolley (0-1) stepped in to put up a scoreless seventh, settling the 5-1 victory and sweep for Academy of Art.
Its current four-game win streak has ART U now at 5-5 both overall and in conference play. A week removed from her 4-for-4 outing, Sligh finished the day 5-for-6 with a home run, a double, three RBIs, and one stolen base. Now sporting a nine-game reached base streak, Henderson was 3-for-7 with three RBIs and a double, Randall finished 4-for-8 with one RBI, a double, and a steal, and Pangilinan was 2-for-6 with a homer, a double, and three runs scored. Grayhorse-Pupecki drove in two as part of her 2-for-3 game one and Brundage plated her pair as part of a 1-for-3 game two.
Dominican, now 7-7 overall and 6-4 in PacWest action, had a total of two RBIs in a combined 1-for-7 effort from Peyton Mott and Celeste Salas. One of four pitchers who allowed a run to throw in game one, Rosa Leguria (1-2) was saddled with the loss after surrendering two runs in 2.0 innings while Shelby Keltner (4-4) went 5.0 innings with four runs allowed on six hits in the day's finale.
The Urban Knights and Penguins will finish their four-game series tomorrow with another noon doubleheader taking place at Mission Blue Field.
"Our focus is to keep playing our game," Gentile said. "We use that phrase a lot because we beat ourselves in the games we've lost. It's about winning innings, advancing runners, making quick adjustments, and being aggressive offensively."
