Box Score #1
Box Score #2

Photo Gallery (images by Austin McKeon & Bob Toy)

Brisbane, CA – Academy of Art University Softball bid farewell to an accomplished 2012 senior class, split with Notre Dame de Namur, and closed out the year all out at Mission Blue Field on Saturday afternoon. Following a ceremony to honor the four Urban Knight seniors, Ashley Lokey, Melissa Coe, Jayme Stewart, and Genna Allen, quickly rattled off three runs in the first and never looked back en route to the 6-1 victory. Game two was a 1-1 tie for five innings, before a pair of home runs by NDNU gave the Argonauts a 3-1 advantage. ART U brought the go-ahead run to the plate in the top of the seventh, but the Argos managed to escape with the victory. Lokey led the way with a four-hit performance in game one and a solo home run to score the Knights' lone run in the second contest.

ART U (21-28, 15-17 PacWest) jumped out of the gate early in game one, getting three runs on four hits to start. Lokey hit a leadoff double and soon scored on junior Julie Martin's infield single. Junior infielder Andrea Hanchey also singled her way aboard and then both runners came home on a two-run double by freshman infielder Taylor Thurman.

Sophomore outfielder Elyse Cordova almost single-handedly manufactured another run in the second after junior Kimberly Dauer (12-10) had put back-to-back zeros on the board for NDNU defensively. Cordova laid down a bunt and sprinted to first for the hit. She then swiped second and third before again using her speed to make it look easy scoring on a sacrifice fly by Stewart.

Given a 4-0 lead, Dauer continued to roll with her only mistake of the day coming in the fourth when she allowed a solo homer to Mercedes Acosta. That three-run margin was quickly an afterthought, however, as the Urban Knights added one more in the fourth and one in the fifth innings. The run in the fourth was a Lokey single where she advanced to third on an outfield error and then scored on a wild pitch. Singles by junior Alyssa Hickey and Hanchey opened the fifth before a walk to Thurman loaded the bases for Coe. The senior outfielder popped one into shallow center and, after causing confusion on the part of the Argonauts infielders, fell in for an RBI single.

Dauer posted a relatively quick sixth with the help of a double-play by Hanchey at first and freshman Kristin Valdivia came on to finish off the final frame to give ART U its 6-1 victory.

Locked in yet another pitchers' duel, freshman Haily MacDonald (6-9) found herself in a 1-1 ballgame up against NDNU's Sammy McConvey (14-12). The Knights had been given a 1-0 lead on the fourth pitch of the game when Lokey blasted a home run beyond the left field fence. Notre Dame de Namur, however, answered back in the second inning with a solo shot of its own coming off the bat of Robyn Araujo.

With the PacWest matchup tied 1-1 after two, MacDonald would allow just two hits in the next three innings despite threats to score by the Argonauts. With two on in the third, NDNU was slowed by a play where sophomore infielder Lauren Stover hit Stewart for a play at the plate and, in the fourth, it was Allen who threw home for another crucial out. ART U was itself denied a run on a putout at home plate in the fifth and it seemed as if this contest would surely be decided in the late innings.

The turning point ended up coming in the sixth when Notre Dame de Namur hit back-to-back home runs to go up 3-1. That put Academy of Art with its back against the wall in the top of the seventh, but after an Allen walk and Thurman's single, the Knights had two on with no outs and the go-ahead run stepped to the plate in Coe. Unfortunately, a steal attempt by Allen was caught and while Coe hit an infield single, the final two outs were made to give NDNU a 3-1 win and the split. Three of four ART U seniors came to the plate in the final frame with Lokey in the on-deck circle at the game's end.

Both ART U starting pitchers were effective Saturday as Dauer earned the victory with one run allowed on four hits and two strikeouts through 6.0 innings pitched. MacDonald took a hard-luck loss in the second game, finishing with three runs allowed on seven hits over 5.1 innings of work. She would only surrender a single run on five hits through her first five innings.

Lokey, who closed out her Academy of Art career as the leader in numerous offensive categories, started Saturday by going 4-for-4 to tie the program's single-game record once again (it was the third four-hit game of her career). She added a double, scored twice and stole a base in that one before going 1-for-3 with her seventh home run of the season in game two.

On a day that saw all four ART U seniors reach base, Coe had a productive game one, offering an RBI and a stolen base before her 1-for-3 game two. Stewart walked once in game one and added an RBI on a sac fly while Allen walked twice in the doubleheader.

Thurman provided the clutch hit to break open game one and would go 1-for-2 with a double and two RBIs in that one before adding a 1-for-3 second contest. Cordova closed out 2012 with an Urban Knights season-best 11 game hit streak after 1-for-3 in each contest with a total of three stolen bases on the day. Martin finished game one 1-for-2 with an RBI and a run scored.

Though she only pinch hit once in the first game, the Argonauts' top performer Saturday was Araujo who homered twice while going 3-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Taking the loss in the day's opener, Hillary Ruddick (9-15) went 5.0 innings in the circle while allowing six runs on 10 hits with two strikeouts. McConvey picked up the complete game victory in the second contest after allowing one run on four hits with three strikeouts through 7.0 innings of work.

The Urban Knights conclude their 2012 campaign with a 21-28 overall record and 15-17 in PacWest play. They will earn a sixth place finish in the conference standings following today's finale.