Laie, Hi— Continuing the Hawaiian road trip, the Academy of Art University's softball team again traveled across Oahu to face BYU Hawaii on Wednesday afternoon. With muddy field conditions from the rain the night before, the ladies had many obstacles to overcome in the doubleheader. But the field was the least of their problems, as the BYU Hawaii Seasiders came out attacking and took both games from the Urban Knights with scores of 1-0 and 3-2.
Box Score #1
There was a quiet start to the first game. Pitching was strong and neither team was able to get their offense going in the early innings. It wasn't until the bottom of the third inning that the Seasiders scored first. They loaded the bases with two outs, and a bock by the Urban Knight pitcher allowed a run to score. That would end up being the only run the Seasiders would score in the game.
The Urban Knights struggled the whole game with BYU Hawaii's pitching. The closest they came to scoring was having a runner at third in the third inning. After BYU Hawaii scored their run, the Urban Knight's would not be able to advance a runner past second base for the rest of the game. Without execution and key hitting, the Academy of Art University ended up losing the first game with a final score of 1-0.
Freshman Sierrah Garcia pitched the first game for the Academy of Art University. She went six innings pitched, giving up three hits and one earned run. Garcia also had one walk, three hit batters and posted four strikeouts on the night.
For the Urban Knights, junior Ashley Roy (who doubled) and freshman Jacqueline Nieves both went 1-2 in the game. Melissa Coe and Shelby LaFond both went 1-3.
Leading hitters for the BYU Hawaii Seasiders were K.Alohikea-Betham who went 2-2 and Lauren Fielding who went 1-3.
The Academy of Art University scored no runs on four hits, with no errors and left five runners on base.
Box Score #2
In the second game of the day, the Urban Knights again had a slow start. With the clouds moving in overhead, the Women were quiet and seemed unready to play. Again, BYU Hawaii's pitching was tough and kept the Urban Knight batters off balance for the first half of the game. But their bats finally came alive in the top of the fourth inning.
With one out in the top of the fourth, Ashley Roy singled up the middle, followed by a single to right field by Alana Aweau. Roy was able to advance to third on the single, but Aweau was thrown out trying to go to second on the thorw. With two outs Shampayne Clay singled up the middle, scoring Roy from third. The Urban Knights were only able to push one run across in the inning.
BYU Hawaii answered right back in the bottom of the inning with two runs of their own. They tacked on one more run in the bottom of the fifth, taking the lead by two. In the top of the sixth inning the Academy of Art University started a small rally.
Ericka Ames started the inning off with a double to left- center field. Nicole Palmer then singled to center field scoring Ames from second. But the Academy of Art University would not be able to score any more runs in the inning. They had another chance to score in the top of the seventh inning, when Melissa Coe singled to center field, and advanced to second on an error. But the Urban Knights had poor base running, and were not able to string any hits together to score any more runs. They ended up losing the game with a final score of 3-2.
Junior Ericka Ames was in the circle for the Academy of Art University in the second game. She pitched six innings, giving up six hits and three earned runs. Ames also had two walks and three strikeouts in the game.
As in the previous game, the Urban Knights out hit their opponents but still came up short. Leading hitters for the Academy of Art University were Nicole Palmer who went 2-3 with a run batted in, Ericka Ames who went 1-2 with a double and a run scored, and Ashley Petty who went 1-2. Melissa Coe, Shampayne Clay, Alana Aweau and Ashley Roy each went 1-3 in the game.
For the BYU Hawaii Seasiders Lauren Fielding had a good game going 2-4, and her teammates Brooke Perriton, Tina Moen, and Athena Salinas each went 1-2 in the game.
The Urban Knights scored two runs on eight hits, with one error and left three runners on base.
With the losses, the Academy of Art University's record falls to 7-23 on the season, and BYU Hawaii's record improves to 10-18 overall. The Academy of Art University concludes their eight game road trip with their final double header on Thursday March 19th, when they take on Chaminade University. The games are set to take place at 4:30 and 6:30pm (HST) at Corp field in Waikehu, HI.
