San Francisco, CA—The Academy of Art University's softball team played a double header on Wednesday afternoon against cross town rivals, San Francisco State University. As always, great pitching kept the Academy of Art University within reach of both their games. But even with the Urban Knights in their home city, they couldn't get their offense going in either game and ended up dropping them both to the Gators with scores of 2-0 and 5-0.
Box Score #1
Game one started as a pitcher's duel, as both teams were held scoreless until the bottom of the third inning, when San Francisco State pushed a run across the board. The game continued to be carried by good pitching by both teams, but the SFSU Gator's added one more run to their lead in the bottom of the fifth. This two run lead would end up being enough for the win.
The Academy of Art University's bats were kept quiet all game by the Gator pitching. Very few adjustments were made at the plate, and the Urban Knight batters could not compete with their opponent's defense. The Urban Knights had a chance to make something happen in the top of the seventh inning, as they had bases loaded and no outs. But the Academy of Art University could not make anything happen, and ended up losing the game by a score of 2-0.
Leading hitters for SFSU were Karoline Gubbine who went 2-3 with one run batted in, and Alyssa Esquibel and Kelly McDonlad who both went 1-2 with one run scored.
Despite getting the loss, freshman Sierrah Garcia pitched a great game for the Urban Knights. Garcia threw all six innings, giving up six hits, two runs (one which was earned), one walk, and posted five strikeouts.
The Academy o f Art University's own Carissa Nichole Perales went 2-3 in the game, and Jacqueline Nieves went 1-2.
They Urban Knights managed no runs on five hits. They had one error and left five runners on base.
Box Score #2
The Academy of Art University had a better start to the second game. Pitching was solid and runners were getting on base. But that would soon fall apart as the tough SFSU offense would step up. The Gator's had a two run lead in the bottom of the second inning, and added two more runs in the fourth off a two run homerun by their pitcher. Again, their lead would prove to be enough to hold the quiet Urban Knight offense.
Strong Gator pitching came into play again in the second game. The Urban Knights were not able to string any hits together and continued to strand runners on base. With such a quiet offense, the Academy of Art University could not muster up any runs and ended up losing the game with a final score of 5-0.
Ericka Ames started on the mound for the Urban Knights. She pitched three innings, giving up six hits, four earned runs and had one strikeout. Sierrah Garcia came in to relieve Ames in the fourth. Garcia pitched three innings, giving up three hits, one earned run, one walk, and had three stikeouts.
The Academy of Art University's leading hitters were junior Alana Aweau who went 2-2 and freshman Jacqueline Nieves who went 1-2 in the game.
SFSU's Kendra Wood went 2-2 with a homerun, two runs scored and two runs batted in. Jessica Delgado went 2-3 with a run scored and one run batted in, and Kelsey Wood also went 2-3 with a run scored in the game.
The Urban Knights had no runs on three hits, one error and left four runners on base.
With the losses, the Academy of Art University's record drops to 6-18 on the season, and San Francisco State University's record improves to 9-10 overall. The Urban Knights next travel to Hawaii for a four day, eight game road trip. Their first games are set to take place on Sunday March 15th against Hawaii Pacific University. Game times are set for 12:00 and 2:00 in Kaneohe, HI.
