Games #21 & 22
ART U Urban Knights (11-9, 10-6 PacWest) vs. Dominican Penguins (11-13, 10-6 PacWest)
Friday, April 16, 2021 at Noon & 2 p.m.
Brisbane, Calif. – Mission Blue Field
Live Stats & Video
 
Games #23 & 24
ART U Urban Knights (11-9, 10-6 PacWest) vs. Dominican Penguins (11-13, 10-6 PacWest)
Saturday, April 17, 2021 at Noon & 2 p.m.
San Rafael, Calif. – Penguin Field
Live Stats

ACADEMY OF ART TO FACE DOMINICAN IN CRUCIAL SERIES TOWARD NORCAL TITLE
Coming into this week having won nine of its last 10 Pacific West Conference games, Academy of Art softball currently finds itself tied atop the Northern California pod standings with the team it will face this week - Dominican. With just eight conference games remaining on the schedule, this Friday and Saturday's doubleheaders will factor heavily into the upcoming stretch run.

FIRST PITCH
The Urban Knights open their third four-game series with Dominican this Friday, Apr. 16 at Mission Blue Field then turn around and meet the Penguins in San Rafael on Saturday, Apr. 17. Both twinbills are set to begin at noon. Remember to follow @ARTU_Knights via the athletics app (Apple App Store, Google Play Store) and on Twitter & Instagram, as well as "Like" the Urban Knights on Facebook for score updates, videos, and recaps.

KNIGHT WATCH
Tied for second in the PacWest in home runs (13), third in runs batted in (90), and fourth in batting average (.296), Academy of Art has been riding a streak of seven or more runs scored in its last six straight PacWest games en route to its current 10-6 conference record. Each maintaining their own respective streaks, junior catcher/infielder Lauryn Henderson, the PacWest Player of the Week, and infielder Haley Randall, the PacWest Freshman of the Week each come into this series hitting over .435. Randall, whose current 15-game hitting streak is tied for the longest in program history (Elyse Cordova, 2011), ranks second in the conference in batting average (.440) and home runs (4) in addition to being tied for third in RBIs (21) with 18 of those coming during a nine-game stretch in which she had at least one RBI or more. Henderson, who has reached base safely in her last 18 games, is one batting average point behind Randall at .439 (third in PacWest), but tied for second in the conference in home runs (4), tied for fourth in doubles (7). and fifth in RBIs (19) after her own recent six-game stretch with 10 runs driven in. Henderson is currently tied for third among the program's career home run leaders, needing four more to tie the record of 22 held by Brenna Youngquist.

Stepping to the plate after those top two hitters, graduate student infielder Chelsea Sligh is batting .382 (11th in PacWest) with two home runs and 12 RBIs, both third on the team. In front of the duo of Henderson and Randall, sophomore outfielder Bethany Mitchell checks in with a .286 batting average, shares the team-lead in doubles with seven (tied for fourth in the PacWest), and owns a current streak of 10 straight games with a run scored (tied with Kamyle Glover, 2014 and Elyse Cordova, 2011 for the longest in program history). Atop the batting order, graduate student outfielder Gabi Hirsch is hitting .274 and leads the PacWest with nine steals in nine chances. After swiping four bases last week, Hirsch's 63 career thefts are now only one behind the program record (Haily MacDonald's 64).

Remaining fifth in the PacWest in earned run average (3.19), ART U has leaned on a trio of pitchers who now all carry ERAs under 5.00. Junior pitcher Cecilia Lopez (3-2) leads the team with a 2.08 ERA (tied for seventh in PacWest) and just eight walks in 30.1 innings (the second fewest in PacWest among pitchers with 30.0 or more innings pitched). Senior Hannah Rose Balke (6-5) has tossed the most innings (77.1) en route to a 3.08 ERA and a team-best 41 strikeouts. Already the third ART U hurler to eclipse 300 career strikeouts (she currently has 296), Balke will become third Urban Knight ever to surpass 500.0 innings with just 6.1 more pitched. Sophomore Haley Arnold-Jolley (2-2) brings a 4.85 ERA into this series and is one start removed from her best of the year when she allowed just one earned run in 5.0 innings versus Holy Names.
 
OPENING THE DOMINI-CAN
Since losing three of four to Academy of Art in the teams' previous series, Dominican took three of four from Holy Names then dropped a pair of non-conference doubleheaders to Northwest Nazarene and Concordia. Sharing the lead in the PacWest NorCal standings with ART U at 10-6, the Penguins have relied primarily on the offense of Peyton Mott (.377 batting average) and Alyssa Ramirez (.361 batting average) who have combined for two homers, 16 doubles, and 23 RBIs. Defensively, Alyssa Waltman (2-0) is the only Dominican pitcher with an ERA under 3.00 at 2.59. After trading series victories thus far in 2021, ART U has moved ahead by 20 wins in its historical matchup with Dominican at 36-16 all-time.

ACADEMY OF ART NEARLY UPSETS NO. 14 CONCORDIA, EAGLES SWEEP
Stepping right up to the challenge of facing No. 14 Concordia, Academy of Art softball came one swing shy from an upset, but the Eagles wound up securing both sides of an Apr. 12 non-conference doubleheader at Mission Blue Field. A pitchers' duel from the start, game one saw the Urban Knights get the winning run to first base in the seventh inning before CUI held on for the 3-2 victory. Two big visitor rallies opened game two which led them to a 10-2 final score in five innings.

ON THE HORIZON
Prior to its final PacWest series versus Holy Names (Apr. 30-May 1), ART U will host Humboldt State for four games across two noon doubleheaders on Apr. 25-26.