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Box Score 2 Brisbane, CA – Resuming Pacific West Conference play on Friday, ART U Softball used a big rally in game two to finish off a split with Notre Dame de Namur out at Mission Blue Field. Following an opener that saw the Argos use late rallies to grab a 10-2 victory, the Urban Knights rode a solid outing from
Jill Johnson combined with five runs in the fourth inning en route to their 6-3 win in the day's finale.
Kamyle Glover and
Elyse Cordova, the team's two batting average leaders, led the way with back-to-back two-run hits in the surge.
Academy of Art started the day with a run in the first in classic ART U fashion with Glover taking a walk, Cordova bunting her over, and Taylor Thurman driving her in on a single. Though starter Alexa Peters (2-6) blanked the Argonauts for the first two frames, they tied things up 1-1 in the third on Amanda Wallach's RBI double.
The tie was brief, however, as Lauren Stover's double in the third was backed up by a RBI single from Alexandra "Lexie" Hernandez for the 2-1 lead. A rough fourth inning ensued in which NDNU scored four runs despite not registering a hit and went up 5-2. From there, the Knights continued to just miss the big hit with their third inning of leaving the bases loaded coming in the fourth. Notre Dame de Namur added two in the fifth and three in the seventh for the 10-2 victory.
In game two, a duel between Jill Johnson (8-10) and Jenna Bassler (11-8) kept both sides quiet through the first three innings. The Knights were reluctantly scoreless in the first, however, as singles by Glover, Cordova, and Elise Oldham loaded the bases, though none came in. It was then a big fourth inning for both sides as NDNU plated three, including a two-run homer, but ART U came back with even more.
Walks to Stover and Hernandez got it started then a Haily MacDonald single soon loaded the bases for Glover. On a 2-1 count, the junior smacked a double into left center, driving in two of her teammates. Cordova then wasted little time, jumping on the first pitch for a two-run single to put her squad ahead. Finally, Thurman crushed a RBI double to roughly the same spot as Glover and the Knights took a 5-3 lead.
Johnson retired NDNU in order in the fifth before a throwing error allowed one more run for the Knights in the bottom half of the inning. Johnson's toughest test the rest of the way came in the sixth when two runners got into scoring position with none out. Despite the difficult situation, she combined with her defense to get infield outs and exit unscathed. In the end, she did the honors of a game-ending double play and finished off her eighth complete game of the season, going 7.0 innings with two earned runs allowed on five hits and a strikeout.
The split puts ART U's overall record at 13-25 and 10-12 in PacWest play, just ahead of NDNU's 10-13 conference record. A 4-for-7 day that included two RBIs came for Thurman who now needs just two more to set the program's new single-season record. Cordova upped her current hitting streak to 10 straight games after going a combined 3-for-7 with two RBIs and hits in each contest.
Academy of Art is on the road for the final time tomorrow when they head to Kentfield, CA and College of Marin Softball Field to play Dominican twice starting at 1:00 PM.
