Games 48 & 49
ART U Urban Knights (17-30, 13-17 PacWest) vs. NDNU Argonauts (30-18, 19-9 PacWest)
Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 12:00 PM
Brisbane, CA – Mission Blue Field
Live Stats

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Winners of four consecutive games and looking to close out the 2013 season on a high note, Academy of Art University Softball hosts its Senior Day this Saturday. Friends and family alike will have the opportunity to see the culmination of five dedicated young women's collegiate careers as Julie Martin, Alyssa Hickey, Kimberly Dauer, Andrea Hanchey, and Nicole Smith will all be highlighted prior to the Urban Knights' matchup with Bay Area rival Notre Dame de Namur.

FIRST PITCH
In its final two games of the 2013 season, ART U Softball plays host to NDNU out a Mission Blue Field this Saturday, Apr. 27. The 12:00 PM first pitch will follow a pre-game ceremony honoring the five Urban Knight seniors. Live Stats will be available for all games. Remember to follow @ARTU_Knights on Twitter and "Like" the Urban Knights on Facebook for score updates, videos, and recaps.

**SENIOR DAY FAN BUS** Sign up and ride to the Senior Day doubleheader on the 11:30 AM Fan Bus leaving 620 Sutter at 11:30 AM. The return trip will be 1:30 PM from Mission Blue Field. Go to Fan Bus Central > Softball


KNIGHT WATCH
After a breakout week offensively, Academy of Art now boasts four Urban Knights with batting averages of .300 or higher. Atop the list, junior Lauren Stover's .355 average is complemented by team-highs of 25 RBIs, three home runs, and 15 walks. Sophomore Haily MacDonald's average has risen to .352 to which she adds a team-best 33 runs scored, four triples (4th in PacWest), and 12 stolen bases. She was named to the Hawaii Tourism Authority PacWest Weekly Fantastic 15 after hitting .467 last week and currently rides a seven-game hit streak. Junior Elyse Cordova has been on fire of late as well, now hitting .342 with a team-high 10 doubles, 32 runs scored, and nine steals. She comes into Saturday having doubled in each of her past four games. One of the biggest stories in the Knights' previous series with BYU-Hawaii was sophomore Taylor Thurman who went 6-for-6 with seven RBIs in the two games. She now offers a .300 batting average (her highest of the year) with seven doubles and 24 RBIs.

Senior Kimberly Dauer (7-15) comes into her Senior Day after one of the best starts she has had this season. Dauer posted a win in a complete 7.0 innings against BYU-Hawaii this past Monday while allowing just two runs on four hits with 10 strikeouts to tie her career-high. She leads the team with 14 complete games (8th in PacWest) in 22 starts, 136.1 innings pitched, and 98 strikeouts (5th in PacWest). Dauer is also tied with sophomore Kristin Valdivia for a team-best 3.75 ERA. Valdivia (3-3) adds 18 strikeouts in 46.2 innings pitched, MacDonald (4-4) is coming off a three-hit shutout of Holy Names (Apr. 20), and freshman Shelby Gill (3-8) has won back-to-back starts.

AGAIN AGAINST THE ARGOS
When Academy of Art and Notre Dame de Namur met for a doubleheader earlier this season, a split was the result. Then, as part of the Tournament of Champions, the teams met once again with ART U earning a 4-3 victory thanks to a walk-off RBI single from Stover. Since that time, the Argonauts reeled off six consecutive wins, sweeping Dominican and BYU-Hawaii in that span. Most recently, NDNU split a pair of games versus Hawaii Pacific, falling 7-6 then coming back to win 8-6. Those results bring the Argos to 19-9 in PacWest play and just ahead of Chaminade for 4th in the conference standings. Notre Dame de Namur is scheduled to face Holy Names on Friday, Apr. 26 before finishing the year against the Knights. Offensively, Sylia Honne (.360, 9 2B, 30 R, 16 RBI, 13 SB) leads the team while Sammy McConvey (13-6, 1.96 ERA, 139.1 IP, 60 SO) has been the Argos' top hurler. After ART U went 2-1 against NDNU this season, the teams are now an even 9-9 in their historical matchup.

THURMAN, DAUER POWER KNIGHTS TO ANOTHER SWEEP
The Academy of Art University softball team was firing on all cylinders Monday afternoon at Mission Blue Field as the Urban Knights defeated BYU-Hawaii twice to earn their second sweep in three days. Dauer offered an unforgettable performance in the opener, tying her career-high with 10 strikeouts while throwing five no-hit innings to start. The ART U offense supported her from the outset and Academy of Art prevailed 6-2. Game number two saw the Seasiders get out to a 3-1 lead early, but a huge two-run home run by Thurman in the fifth helped propel the Knights to an 8-5 victory. She went an incredible 6-for-6 on the day with seven runs batted in.