Box Score Game 1
Box Score Game 2
St. George, UT – After a two hour game delay and battling snow and rain throughout the day, the Academy of Art University managed to get in a double header against Dixie State College on Saturday afternoon. The Urban Knights however, seemed un-phased by the unruly elements as they continued to swing hot bats in both games. The women came out attacking and always seemed in control during the day. The only thing standing in ART U's way was its own defense. After a long first game, the Knights came away with a big victory defeating the Red Storm 11-10. Game two was very similar, and after a back-and-forth battle, the Knights fell to Dixie 4-6.
In game one the Red Storm got things going in the bottom of the first with an un-earned run. However, the Urban Knights were out to make a statement and they quickly answered right back. With two outs in the top of the second inning, the Knights strung some hits together, and pushed across three runs of their own to take the lead. However, Dixie came right back with four runs in the bottom of the third inning to re-take the lead.
After a pitching change in the fourth, ART U got their bats going once again in the top of the inning. With two outs, freshman Lauren Stover doubled to left-center to score junior Jayme Stewart and sophomore Julie Martin. The Red Storm continued to battle when they scored three runs in the bottom of the inning. In the top of the sixth, the Urban Knights seemed fed up with the back and forth scoring and looked to put an end to things. The women pushed across six runs on four hits to re-take the lead, this time for good. Although Dixie would score twice in the bottom of the sixth, the Knights were able to get out of things with their lead intact, and held on for the 11-10 win.
“I think out team did a great job, and no matter what the score was, our team just kept chipping away. Our offense did a great job stringing hits together and coming up clutch,” exclaimed Head Coach Rachel Sherman.
Game one was a complete team effort from ART U. The pitching was supported by the outstanding run support, and the defense was able to shut-down the powerful Dixie offense.
Helping lead ART U offensively was Stewart who went 3-4 with a home run, a double, three runs scored, and three runs batted in. Sophomore Andrea Hanchey also did very well going 3-5 with a double, one run, and three runs batted in, and Stover stood out going 3-5 with a double two runs scored, and two runs batted in. All but one Urban Knight batter recorded a run in the game.
Receiving the win in the game was sophomore Kimberly Dauer. She went 2.2 innings pitched allowing seven hits, five runs, and had two strikeouts.
For the Red Storm, Kelsey Mendenhall led the way going 3-3 with two home runs, three runs scored, and five RBI. Ashley McFarland did well going 3-5 with a double, two runs, and one RBI, and Johnna Brown rounded things out going 3-4 with a home run. Receiving the loss was Mattie Snow who went 1.2 innings pitched giving up four hits, six runs, and had three strikeouts.
The Urban Knights scored 11 runs on 10 hits, had one error, and left nine runners on base.
Game two started out in a pitching duel. Both teams were caught off guard by their opponent's pitching. The first couple of innings were scoreless until Dixie State, who was acting as the visiting team per PacWest rules, got something going in the top of the 3rd. The Red Storm tacked on three runs that inning, and one in the fourth to take the lead. But again ART U kept fighting back.
In the bottom of the fourth, freshman Lauren Stover hit a line drive that got out of the park in a hurry for a solo homerun to get her team on the board. The Knights then scored three more runs in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game 4-4. Freshman Elyse Cordova singled up the middle to score sophomore Julie Martin from second. Stover followed with a triple to right field, scoring senior Alana Aweau from second.
After Dixie scored two more runs in the top of the sixth to re-gain the lead, the Knights couldn't muster any more run support. Errors came into play all game long for ART U and they ended up being very costly later on. Although the Urban Knights threatened with runners on several times, they failed to capitalized on any of those runners and came up short in the end with a final score of 4-6.
“The difference in the game was errors,” added Sherman. “We had a few costly errors that hurt us, whereas in game one, the error didn't.”
Receiving the loss in the game was junior Sierrah Garcia. Garcia came in for relief in the fourth, and went 3.2 innings giving up just three hits, two runs, and had three strikeouts.
Leading ART U offensively was Stover who went 3-4 with a triple, one run, and three runs batted in. Aweau did well going 2-3 with one run, and Cordova rounded things out going 1-4 with one run, and one run batted in.
“I think different people came through clutch in different situations. I think our whole team came through in the game today. Stover had two clutch at-bats, and Jayme in game one had an awesome game, and Dre [Andrea] had a clutch at-bat clearing the bases in game one,” said Coach Rachel Sherman.
For the Red Storm Brianna Egge went 3-4 with two doubles, two runs, and two RBI, and Jaelle Judkins went 1-3 with two runs scored. Receiving the win was Lauren Folta who went all seven innings pitched allowing four runs on three hits, and had three strikeouts.
The Urban Knights scored four runs on seven hits, had four errors, and left six runners on base.
After the split, the Academy of Art University's record is at 20-12 overall, and 10-4 in conference, while Dixie State College's record is at 20-9 overall, and 11-3 in conference. The two team play again tomorrow, April 10th, in the final day of the four game series. The games are set for 12:00 and 2:00pm.
