Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

Seaside, CA – In a series that was relocated to Cal State Monterey Bay's home field due to wet field conditions at Mission Blue, the Otters managed to take both sides of Wednesday's doubleheader from Academy of Art. After winning game one 6-0, CSUMB saw its early game two lead soon matched, but missed opportunities for ART U resulted in a tough 6-2 defeat in the end.

Game one began with the teams combining for 13 consecutive outs as both sides had their starters dealing early. Jasmine Dickenson broke the streak by working a five-pitch walk in the top of the third, but the opportunity did not bear fruit. Instead, CSUMB got its first base runner to start their third and later managed to plate her on an error.

A fourth-inning Otters rally put them up 3-0 after which Carlee Emerson (1-4) regained her rhythm to silence Cal State Monterey Bay on 11 pitches in the fifth. However, the sixth saw CSUMB score three more times to go up 6-0 and they would allow a hit, but no runs in the seventh to make that the final score.


Monterey Bay was ahead early in the second contest after a two-run rally in the bottom of the first which the Knights and Jill Johnson (2-4) exited on a strikeout. Academy of Art then quickly loaded the bases to start the second with Elise Oldham and Taylor Thurman each walking, split by a single from Haily MacDonald. Jessica West delivered one run on a groundout and soon Otters starter Lindsey Clarkson was removed after just 1.1 innings pitched. A bases-loaded wild pitch led to a tie game 2-2.

In the second inning, however, CSUMB hit two run-scoring doubles to go up 5-2. The second, which came off Bianca Noriega's bat despite Johnson getting ahead of her, scored two, but also caused the end of the inning when Elyse Cordova hit the cutoff in Lauren Stover and a quick throw to Oldham forced an out at the plate.

After a quiet third, the Urban Knights began a series of getting two runners on in each inning in the fourth. A one-out double by Thurman and a walk to West got two on, but a strikeout ended it. In the fifth, Stover doubled and Oldham walked, yet again the runners were stranded. The sixth started with Thurman's single and later Dickenson was hit by a pitch, but two subsequent outs led to another scoreless frame.

In the seventh, down 6-2, Stover smacked her second double of the day and Oldham singled, but even though an infield error put two in scoring position, a groundout ended the game in favor of the Otters.

"We have shown in our last two wins what happens when we step up in key situations with runners on top," co-head coach Sami Strinz said. "It seemed that we lost a bit of that momentum with the time off. Our hope is that today's experience hungers us for the fight that we know that we are capable of. When we swing with confidence and authority, good things happen."

ART U moves to 3-9 overall with the day's results despite a now six-game hitting streak for Stover who combined to go 3-for-7 with two doubles in the twinbill. Thurman added a 2-for-3 game two that included a double and West registered the first RBI of her career Wednesday. Emerson finished the opener with a complete 6.0 innings pitched and five earned runs allowed on nine hits while Johnson added a complete game as well, going 6.0 innings and allowing three earned out of six allowed.

"We didn't step up to the pressure to today," co-head coach Randy Ward said. "We let outside factors control us and it is hard to win games that way. We had good outings from Carlee and Jill and they pitched well enough to win, but we had some lapses at the plate and in the field. The time off allowed us time to heal, but no excuses with the time off. We just needed to be better when the pressure was on."

For 10-4 Monterey Bay, Nicole Pires led the way in game one (2-for-3, HR, 4 RBIs) and Brianne Hollon came up big in game two (4-for-4, RBI, 2 R). Cori Reinhardt (4-3) got the game one win behind 7.0 innings pitched with no runs allowed on one hit and six strikeouts while Noriega picked up her second win of the year in game two (2.0 IP, H, 0 ER).

Academy of Art will resume PacWest play next Thursday, Mar. 13 when it begins a 10-game Hawaii roadtrip that features UH Hilo (Mar. 13), Hawaii Pacific (Mar. 15-16), Chaminade (Mar. 18), and finally BYU-Hawaii (Mar. 20).

"We need to be confident in all pressure situations," Coach Ward said. "We have a very capable offense, but we cannot let anything outside ourselves control what we do."