BRISBANE, Calif. – There was no shortage of offense in Friday's Pacific West Conference doubleheader between Academy of Art softball and Holy Names out at Mission Blue Field. The Urban Knights tied the program's single-game record with 21 hits in a 13-4 victory before a pair of consecutive three-run rallies turned the day's finale into a 7-5 win. The tandem of junior catcher Lauryn Henderson and freshman infielder Haley Randall remained scorching at the plate, driving in four runs apiece while combining for 10 of the team's 28 hits overall.

GAME 1 – ART U 13, HNU 4
The Academy of Art offense was on fire from the day's outset as the first seven batters recorded hits to start including the first four going for extra bases. After graduate student outfielder Gabi Hirsch doubled and came home on sophomore outfielder Bethany Mitchell's third career triple, Henderson and Randall each doubled. More runs were soon put on the board with graduate student infielder Chelsea Sligh singling home one and junior utility Neenah Pangilinan plating two on her own single.

Given five runs of support off the bat, senior pitcher Hannah Rose Balke (5-3) and the ART U defense allowed an unearned run in the first and another in the second, but their bats continued to produce on the other end. After Mitchell reached on an error and stole second in the second, Randall brought her home with a single then freshman outfielder Cailee Grayhorse-Pupecki's first collegiate triple immediately followed a double from junior catcher Alyssa Brundage in the third and the Knights were on top 7-2.

In the fourth, Henderson took a 1-0 pitch to the deepest part of the yard, blasting a two-run homer to increase the Academy of Art advantage to 9-2. Balke and the gloves behind her kept HNU off the scoreboard in the third and fourth, but despite two for the Hawks in the fifth, the end of the game was marked by more  ART U rallies. Randall kept pace with Henderson, crushing her fourth homer of the season, a two-run shot, in the sixth before Mitchell and Sligh each drove in runs on singles in the seventh.

When the dust had finally settled, ART U's 13 runs (eighth-most in program history) had come on 21 hits tying the program record set back on Feb. 12, 2011 versus Northwest Nazarene. Meanwhile, Balke earned her fifth win of the season with her fifth complete game, allowing three earned runs on six hits with three strikeouts in 7.0 innings of work.

"To be honest I wasn't aware we had that many hits until I saw the stats at the end of the game," said Head Coach Nikki Gentile. "I knew everyone but one starter got a hit that game and I told them it was a full team win offensively. Everyone stepped up. I know batting through the whole order and putting a five-spot in the first inning gave Hannah a nice cushion."

GAME 2 – ART U 7, HNU 5
Though Holy Names struck first with one run in the first inning of game two, the Knights came right back to tie things at 1-1 on Pangilinan's run-scoring single in the second. Two came home for HNU in their half of the second, but Academy of Art did them one better in the third when Hirsch's speed brought her home on two errors and a steal before a two-run single came off the bat of sophomore catcher/utility Cassandra Mittman.

The lead shifted briefly back to Holy Names when they went up 5-4 in the third, but ART U moved ahead for good in the fourth. A leadoff walk to freshman infielder Cassidy Kachnik eventually became the tying run on an error then a Henderson double and a Randall single accounted for the two runs that put Academy of Art in front 7-5.

Sophomore pitcher Haley Arnold-Jolley (1-2) needed just 12 pitches to exit the fourth before she and the ART U defense exchanged scoreless frames over the final three innings. After getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth, Arnold-Jolley's seven pitches yielded three groundouts in the seventh, finishing the second complete game of her career. Her final line saw five runs allowed on 11 hits with two strikeouts in a career-high-tying 7.0 innings pitched.

"Softball is truly a boxing match," Gentile said. "They punch us, we punch back harder and that's what we did. Pre-game we talked about bats having AJ's back offensively and she did a great job shutting them down the last three innings once we got the go-ahead in the fourth."

The sweep moved the Urban Knights to 9-7 overall and 8-6 in PacWest play. Ever the dangerous duo, Henderson upped her reached base streak to 15 games after going 5-for-7 with a homer, three doubles, and four RBIs while Randall added a 5-for-9 day with a homer, one double, four RBIs, and a stolen base to push her hitting streak to 11 games. Pangilinan offered multi-hit efforts in both games, finishing 5-for-7 with a double and three RBIs. Both Mitchell (2-for-5 with a triple) and Sligh (3-for-4) drove in a pair of runs in the opener while Mittman plated two of her own in a 1-for-2 game two. Grayhorse-Pupecki had a season-best three hits (one triple) in three at-bats plus one RBI in the first contest and Hirsch moved to within two steals of the program's career record after swiping a career-high three bases in finale.

On the losing end in their last three contests, Holy Names ends the day at 4-10 both overall and in conference matchups. One of just two Hawks to record a hit in both games, Haighley Kissee (1-3) finished 3-for-6 with a RBI in addition to tossing a complete game two with seven runs allowed in 7.0 innings. Kelsey Volkmar (1-2) took the game one loss after not recording an out while allowing five runs on seven hits.

Academy of Art and Holy Names will finish their four-part series with a noon doubleheader back at Mission Blue Field tomorrow.

"I look forward to another offensive show tomorrow," Gentile said. "We have seen their entire pitching staff at this point so we will continue to keep playing our game."