BRISBANE, Calif. – After celebrating its quintet of seniors, infielders Hilary Grullon, Katie Humphreys, Haley Randall, Elle Edeker, and outfielder Maddie Sticka, Academy of Art softball swept Dominican in the pair's two-game series on Friday at Mission Blue Field, ending the season on a high with multiple Pacific West Conference victories. The opening contest was broken open by a three-run sixth inning before junior utility Alexis Folks delivered a walk-off double in the seventh for the 4-3 final. Freshman pitcher Kayla Vaughan (5-15) then posted her first collegiate shutout with more timely hitting late in a 1-0 Senior Day finale.

GAME 1 – ART U 4, DUC 3
The only run allowed by freshman pitcher Alyssa Fullmer (5-9) through the first six innings came from a single in the third inning, but the contest remained 1-0 in favor of the visitors until the sixth.

Capitalizing after a leadoff double by Sticka and single from Folks in that frame, sophomore utility Marissa "Roo" Menard tied the game by scoring off a Taylor Rodriguez wild pitch. To take the lead, Humphreys then reached on a fielder's choice and recorded the run batted in with freshman outfielder Bella Jimenez beating the throw at home. To score the final run of the inning, Edeker put another ball in play, also reaching first on a fielder's choice with Menard scoring on the error by DUC's shortstop. 

When the Penguins needed it most in the top of the seventh, Dominican's Alyssa Rue shot a double out to left center which scored Taylor Eby, as Rue also later touched home to tie up the ballgame at 3-3.

Vaughan came in to pinch hit and started the bottom of the seventh off for the Knights and created an opportunity with a leadoff stand-up double. Shortly after, Folks shot a ground-rule double over the left fielder's head to score Vaughan and opened up the doubleheader with a walk-off victory, finishing up with a 4-3 score. Sophomore pitcher Kamielle Powell (2-4) ended up securing the victory after not allowing a run on her ledger with one strikeout in one relief inning completed.

GAME 2 – ART U 1, DUC 0
Riding momentum after just scoring the game-winning run, Vaughan came into pitch the series finale and created problems for the Dominican offense. Finishing the game with a complete-game shutout performance, Vaughan dealt 108 pitches while striking out eight batters including all three in the sixth, and allowing just three hits. 

Randall came up in the clutch for ART U, as her double to left center that scored senior outfielder Cailee Grayhorse-Pupecki in the bottom of the sixth was all the offense the Knights would need to take the second game of the day and complete the sweep. 

Putting Academy of Art at 12-32 overall and 8-20 in PacWest play to end the year, the results were powered by Folks' 2-for-4 opening contest which included one RBI while Randall's final collegiate game saw her go 2-for-3 with a double and one RBI as well.

Dominican closes its 2024 campaign at 19-24 with a 12-16 conference record. Olivia Lee and Rue each had one RBI apiece as part of their combined 2-for-7 first game. Meanwhile, Rodriguez took the loss in the opener, surrendering one run on two hits in 1.1 innings and Kassidy Stetler (2-8) dropped the second contest despite allowing just one run on six hits and two walks with six strikeouts in 6.0 innings of work.

With today's games concluding Academy of Art softball's 2024 season, stay tuned to www.ARTUAthletics.com for updates.