IRVINE, Calif. — A legendary senior season continued for ART U Softball outfielder
Haily MacDonald this past week. Guiding the Urban Knights to their best collective result to date in the Tournament of Champions, she hit .560 with 10 stolen bases and has been recognized by the Pacific West Conference as Co-Player of the Week as announced by the PacWest on Monday.
MacDonald lived up to her elite batting average with a 4-for-5 performance in Academy of Art University's
first game of a tripleheader on Mar. 27. She would single her way on and steal a base in the opening minutes against Northwest Nazarene before logging her sixth 3+ hit game this season. Shortly thereafter
against Central Washington, MacDonald went 2-for-4 with one run batted in and another steal. In the
day's finale versus Western Oregon, she posted three more hits in four at-bats while scoring both of the Knights' runs including the game-winner in the bottom of the eighth after sophomore outfielder
Jessica West singled her home.
After one stolen base in each of the Mar. 27 games, MacDonald did something no Urban Knight has ever done before, swipe five bases in a single game
against Simon Fraser on Mar. 28. She was 1-for-2 in the contest and reached base in a variety of ways, being hit by a pitch in the first, reaching on an error in the fifth, and hitting an infield single in the sixth. On each occasion, she stole at least one base with two coming on her first and final times aboard. MacDonald scored two of ART U's seven runs in a 7-2 victory over SFU. Later that evening, she would then go 1-for-4 with another run scored in a
close 3-1 loss to Montana State-Billings.
On the final day of the tournament, Academy of Art drew Chaminade and one of the biggest moments of MacDonald's career came as part of her 2-for-3 performance. After the Knights had built a 5-0 lead in the first inning ignited by her walk, steal, and score, she stepped into the batter's box in the top of the fifth with the bases loaded. MacDonald, on the first pitch she saw, sent the softball beyond the right field fence for an
emotional grand slam that would help ART U end it early, winning 13-3 in six innings. It was the first grand slam of her career and her second home run in an Academy of Art uniform. In a
rematch against Western Oregon less than an hour later, MacDonald would go 1-for-3 with another steal to give her 12 in her past 14 games.
Through a week that saw her play in seven games, MacDonald hit .560 (14-for-25) with eight runs scored, six runs batted in, one home run, and finished a perfect 10-for-10 in stolen bases. She was named to the All-Tournament Team has now tied the program record for steals in a single season (21) originally set by Melissa Coe in 2010. Additionally, she has moved up to second in career stolen bases with 47, putting her 10 behind program record holder
Elyse Cordova (57).
MacDonald currently ranks second in the PacWest in both batting average (.456) and stolen bases (21). She also has risen to 26th in the country in toughest to strike out and carries a seven-game hitting streak into the Knights' matchup with UH Hilo tomorrow.
