SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Patiently waiting through stormy weather both in Southern and Northern California for the start of Pacific West Conference play, Academy of Art softball finally faced off against Dominican in each teams' first conference games at Penguin Field on Tuesday. The Urban Knight exchanged four scoreless frames with the Penguins to begin before a two-run double in the fifth proved to be the difference in DU's 2-0 win. ART U took back one run midway through the second contest following Dominican's early advantage, but the Penguins held on to prevail 3-1.
GAME 1 – DU 2, ART U 0
Though the Penguins threatened with a runner heading home after a walk and two singles in the bottom of the first, senior outfielder
Bethany Mitchell's second assist of the season sent her team into the dugout with zeroes on the scoreboard. Three more would ensue as a pitchers' duel between freshman
Kamielle Powell (3-7) and Shelby Keltner (3-5) saw the former's nine retired in a row better the latter's six straight over the first four innings.
Singles by sophomore infielder/pitcher
Elle Edeker and junior utility
Cailee Grayhorse-Pupecki led off the fifth and both moved into scoring position following a sacrifice bunt by graduate student outfielder
Nina Vallejos, but Dominican managed to get the final out and proceeded to score twice in its half of the frame on a double following a single and an error.
Powell surrendered just one hit the rest of the way and Academy of Art then brought the tying run to the plate in the seventh following a leadoff walk to junior infielder
Katie Humphreys. However, DU was able to work through the next three batters for the 2-0 victory.
GAME 2 – DU 3, ART U 1
Dominican scored one run in each of the first three innings, doing so with a sacrifice fly in the first, two hits and an error in the second, then two more hits in the third, but the Urban Knights responded in the fourth as Mitchell led off with her team-best sixth double of the season. That was later followed by a single from Humphreys and freshman infielder
Audrey Allen's sacrifice fly to make it 3-1 DU. Both sides put runners into scoring position in the two half innings that ensued, but ultimately the score remained and the Penguins came away with the sweep.
ART U moves to 3-13 overall and 0-2 in PacWest play with the day's results. Finishing 2-for-6 with a double and a run scored, Mitchell recorded hits in both contests while Allen provided one run batted in. Powell finished the afternoon with just one earned run allowed in 7.2 innings of work, giving up seven hits, two walks, and striking out three. Sophomore pitcher
Sydney Harmon added 2.2 innings of scoreless relief.
Dominican rises to 5-6 on the season and 2-0 in conference action with Kate Tobola's 3-for-7 effort coming with two RBIs and one run scored to lead the way. Defensively, Keltner finished with no runs allowed on four hits and two walks plus seven strikeouts in 7.0 innings of a game one win before Jayla Cadena (2-0) picked up the
One more road doubleheader, a Mar. 11 pairing with Cal State Monterey Bay, is on tap for ART U ahead of the Urban Knights' third home gameday of the season on Mar. 13.
