Box Score

SAN FRANCISCO – It was a thrilling come-from-behind victory for ART U Softball on Wednesday morning as the Urban Knights rallied behind a pair of home runs to defeat San Francisco State 3-2 at SFSU Softball Field. Junior infielder Elise Oldham blasted a solo shot out of the park in the fourth to tie it then freshman outfielder Samantha Klune powered a two-run bomb in the sixth all while sophomore pitcher Alexa Peters (1-1) and the Academy of Art defense worked through a complete game with just five hits allowed.

The first inning was a quiet one with senior Haily MacDonald's game-starting single the lone hit. Both sophomore outfielder Jessica West and Klune singled in the second, but Gators starter Megan Clark (0-1) induced two more outs to exit unscathed. That gave way to the first run of the game for SF State in the home half of the second which came after a leadoff double.

ART U's offense continued to flow in the third as seniors Jasmine Dickenson and Taylor Thurman both hit singles, but again the Knights could not scratch across a run. Peters shut down SFSU on just eight pitches in the third and it was Oldham who tied the game on the first pitch of her at-bat with a solo homer in the fourth.

Both sides preserved the 1-1 score until the bottom of the fifth when a run came in on Lyndsi Garcia's RBI single with two on. The Academy of Art defense stepped up thereafter as Dickenson fired a grounder home to catch the runner from third and Peters' induced another groundout.

Three batters into the sixth, the momentum shifted dramatically as the Knights went from down 2-1 to up 3-2 on Klune's second home run in the first five games of her collegiate career. This two-run shot scored graduate student Niranah Singh who had reached after being hit by a pitch.

"My approach was to move my runner over by driving something to the right side," said Klune. "My coaches and teammates had my back and told me to keep it simple and hit it hard. Their support and my approach just worked together for a result that hyped us all up."

SF State tried to respond with a single in each of the final two innings, but Academy of Art held tough and denied the comeback, winning 3-2 in the end.

"Offensively we did a nice job putting the ball in play," said head coach Sonja Garnett. "Haily continues to lead our offense and Taylor had a great day. Sam and Elise powered up to put us on the board and Alexa threw a great game to get her first win this year while letting her defense work behind her."

For the now 3-2 Urban Knights, Klune went 2-for-3 with the home run and two runs batted in while Oldham was also 2-for-3 with a homer and one RBI. Seniors Taylor Thurman and MacDonald each went 2-for-4 with Thurman adding her second double of the year. Peters threw an effective 74 pitches through 7.0 innings while allowing just two runs on five hits.

"For me, it was about just staying positive and upbeat," said Peters. "That was a really fun game for me to pitch in today and for me to have fun and stay loose is when I do my best."

SF State is now 0-1 on the year after getting run-scoring hits from Garcia and Tori Bellin. In the circle, Clark went 5.1 innings while allowing three runs on nine hits.

ART U moves into Pacific West Conference play next starting with a two-day, four-game series at Azusa Pacific on Feb. 20.

"We open conference with APU and we will be using the next week to prepare and tighten up our game," said Garnett. "We are taking season one game at a time. Our first few games have given us confidence and learning moments as we start PacWest play."