Games #38 & 39
ART U Urban Knights (12-25, 8-12 PWC) vs. Dominican Penguins (7-37, 0-20 PWC)
Thursday, April 11, 2013 at 12:00 PM
San Rafael, CA – McInnis Park
Live Stats

Game #40 & 41
ART U Urban Knights (10-21) vs. Grand Canyon Antelopes (32-12, 15-5 PWC)
Saturday, April 13, 2013 at 12:00 PM
Phoenix, AZ - Stepleton-Pierson Stadium
Live Stats

PENGUINS, ANTELOPES ON DECK FOR ART U THIS WEEK
Coming off an inspired walk-off victory to close out the Tournament of Champions and six games in three days, Urban Knights Softball now turns its attention to its last four road games of the 2013 regular season this week. ART U first heads across the bay to Dominican to close out its season series and then one more out-of-state trip to Grand Canyon comes on Saturday.

FIRST PITCH
The Knights' first doubleheader of the week comes at Dominican on Thursday, Apr. 11 out at McInnis Park in San Rafael, CA. Two days later on Saturday, Apr. 13, ART U is at Grand Canyon's Stapleton-Pierson Stadium in Phoenix, AZ. Both gamedays are scheduled to begin at 12:00 PM. Live Stats will be available for all games this week (see above). Remember to follow @ARTU_Knights on Twitter and "Like" the Urban Knights on Facebook for score updates, videos, and recaps.

KNIGHT WATCH
The top of the ART U batting order continues to maintain batting averages above .300 with junior Lauren Stover standing tall at a .381 clip. She adds team-highs in home runs (3), RBIs (20), and walks (13). Sophomore Haily MacDonald and junior Elyse Cordova share the team-lead in runs scored (23) with the former batting .336 with four triples (still one from Ashley Lokey's ART U single-season record) and the latter adding  a .331 batting average (now her highest of the season) and a team-best 12 multi-hit games. She also carries a nine-game hitting streak into this week. After smashing three in the tournament, freshman Jessica Marin has moved into the team-lead with seven doubles.

Senior Kimberly Dauer (6-12) remains the top ART U starting pitcher, now with a 3.66 ERA and 72 strikeouts through 111.0 innings pitched and 18 starts. She has all 10 of Academy of Art's complete games. Sophomore Kristin Valdivia (2-2) serves as the top reliever, leading the team with a 2.72 ERA.

PUTTING THE PENGUINS ON ICE
When Academy of Art swept Dominican in a pair of games earlier this season (Mar. 2), those ended up being part of 16 consecutive losses the Penguins sustained. That stretch was broken up by a 3-1 win over SF State on Mar. 17, but 12 more straight losses followed leaving Dominican still in search of its first PacWest Conference victory. The Penguins went 2-4 in the Tournament of Champions (defeating Northwest Nazarene 10-1 and Cal State East Bay 7-1) and would have faced ART U once again if they had games to spare this season. They come into the meeting with the Knights at 7-37 overall and 0-20 in conference play. On offense, Leslie Mesa (.320, 5 2B, 12 RBI) and Kayleigh Klingberg (.264, 6 HR, 3 3B, 7 2B, 17 R) is leading the way while the Penguins' top hurler is Ashlyn Moriarity (5-19, 4.70 ERA, 155.0 IP, 48 SO). Academy of Art is 16-0 against Dominican all-time.

IN THE GRAND SCHEME
Although they were ranked in the NFCA Top 25 for a significant portion of the season, the Antelopes recently dropped out this week following losses to Cal State Dominguez Hills and SF State in the Tournament of Champions. Grand Canyon, currently the PacWest leader in both hitting  came out of the gate hot this season, winning nine of 10 to start and later opening PacWest play with a six-game win streak. After a 4-4 roadtrip in Hawaii brought them back down to earth, GCU would take three of four from California Baptist at the end of March and finish off the Tournament of Champions 5-2 along with a 17-1 win over Cal State San Bernardino. Offensive standouts Kayla Henry (.429, 8 3B, 21 RBI, 34 R, 19 SB) and Claire Zampini (.417, 21 RBI, 26 R, 11 SB) are complemented by pitchers Kiki Sepulveda (11-2, 1.27 ERA, 104.2 IP, 26 SO) and Stephanie Pesqueira (15-7, 1.58 ERA, 142.0 IP, 97 SO). In 12 total historical meetings, Grand Canyon has a slight 7-5 edge.

ART U WRAPS UP TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS WITH WALK-OFF WIN
Playing in the final game of the Platinum Bracket in the Tournament of Champions presented by Mizuno on Sunday, Academy of Art University Softball executed an impressive comeback in the bottom of the seventh inning to overcome PacWest Conference rival Notre Dame de Namur 4-3. The Urban Knights trailed 3-1 going into the final frame, but clutch RBI hits from freshman Andrea Gill, sophomore Haily MacDonald, and junior Lauren Stover swiftly swung the momentum back to ART U for the victory. Academy of Art would go 2-4 in the Tournament of Champions with its other victory, a 5-1 triumph over Montana State-Billings at the end of Friday's tripleheader.

LOOKING AHEAD
It will be nothing but home games when the Urban Knights return from their trip to Grand Canyon. Starting with a 12:00 PM doubleheader against Hawaii Pacific on Thursday, Apr. 18, Academy of Art will be at Mission Blue Field for four gamedays to end the season.