Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

Kentfield, CA – Battling a PacWest Conference Bay Area opponent for the consecutive day, Urban Knights Softball earned a split once again Saturday, falling 4-0 before defeating Dominican 4-2 at The College of Marin. Nine Academy of Art starters combined for 10 hits as ART U built a 3-0 lead over the first three innings and never looked back thanks to another strong start from Jill Johnson in the circle.

"Although we didn't win both, it was good to see the fight in the second game," co-head coach Randy Ward said. "We got good pitching performances in both contests, but made the defensive plays and got key hits when we needed in the second game for the win."

Game one was scoreless in the first, but both teams had chances come in the second. The Knights could not convert with two on and one out, leaving Dominican to plate the first runs after back-to-back doubles started their bottom half. All in all, the Penguins rallied for three runs and their 3-0 lead remained through the third.

One more unearned run came in for Dominican in the fourth on a Tori Johnson RBI single, but ART U starter Carlee Emerson (3-12) would keep the Penguins quiet the rest of the way, retiring seven of the final eight batters she faced. The end result was a 4-0 win for Dominican thanks to Ashlyn Moriarity (14-10) throwing a four-hit shutout.

The second contest started with a steady diet of ART U runs while Johnson went right to work, allowing just two base runners in the first three innings on a walk and an error. Haily MacDonald led off the game with her first triple of the season and soon scored on a fielding error. From there, MacDonald was right in the thick of the scoring play again in the second as she followed up Alexandra "Lexie" Hernandez's double with a single then aggressively faked the double steal which scored Hernandez.

"Haily is performing to the capability we all know is within her," Coach Ward said. "It's exciting to see her do her job of getting on base no matter where she is in the lineup."

The second contest started with a steady diet of ART U runs while Johnson went right to work, allowing just two base runners in the first three innings on a walk and an error. Haily MacDonald led off the game with her first triple of the season and soon scored on a fielding error. From there, MacDonald was right in the thick of the scoring play again in the second as she followed up Lexie Hernandez's double with a single then aggressively faked the double steal which scored Hernandez.

Up 3-0 after a Jessica West single and Jasmine Dickenson RBI double in the third, Johnson hit a rough patch in the fourth. The Penguins led off with a double and went on to score twice before a comebacker to Johnson concluded the frame. She was also the benefactor of great defense in the fifth when Elyse Cordova in center hit Elise Oldham at home plate for the inning-ending out.

After a brief sixth, the Knights added one more in the seventh by way of a Cordova single, Oldham ground-rule double, and a fielding error that allowed the run to score. That 4-2 margin held up through the final inning where Johnson pitched through a leadoff single, inducing the final outs from the three batters who followed. She would finish off the complete game, allowing two runs on six hits with two strikeouts in 7.0 innings.

"Jill has been pretty relentless on the rubber as of late," co-head coach Sami Strinz said. "She's making good pitches in critical situations to get herself and her teammates easy ground balls and fly balls. She's been kicking it into high gear lately and I'm excited to see how she finishes the season."

The split put ART U at 14-28 overall, 11-13 in the conference with eight games left to play. MacDonald concluded her 4-for-8 day with a triple, two stolen bases, and a run scored. Dickenson provided the day's lone RBI in her 1-for-4 performance that featured a double. Taylor Thurman, West, and Hernandez each had one hit in game two and came around to score while a total of eight Knights accounted for the 10 hits registered in that one.

Next up, Academy of Art has a rematch with Notre Dame de Namur this Tuesday, Apr. 22 back at Mission Blue Field. The doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 12:00 PM.