Games #27 & 28
ART U Urban Knights (11-14-1, 7-5 PWC) vs. NDNU Argonauts (5-16, 4-12 PWC)
Friday, March 25, 2016 at Noon & 2 p.m.
Brisbane, Calif. – Mission Blue Field
Live Stats

Games #29 & 30
ART U Urban Knights (11-14-1, 7-5 PWC) vs. Dominican Penguins (10-19, 8-10 PWC)
Saturday, March 26, 2016 at Noon & 2 p.m.
Brisbane, Calif. – Mission Blue Field
Live Stats

ACADEMY OF ART HOSTS ARGOS, PENGUINS POST-HAWAII
Coming off a 5-5 Hawaii roadtrip, ART U softball begins the second half of its season by hosting Notre Dame de Namur and Dominican in Pacific West Conference play this week.

FIRST PITCH
Back home this week, ART U welcomes NDNU and Dominican to Mission Blue Field for a pair of noon doubleheaders. The Urban Knights take on the Argonauts this Friday, Mar. 25 then turn around and host the Penguins on Saturday, Mar. 26. Live coverage will be available via the links above. Remember to follow @ARTU_Knights on Twitter & Instagram and "Like" the Urban Knights on Facebook for score updates, videos, and recaps.

KNIGHT WATCH
After upping her batting average to .413 (seventh in PacWest) on the Hawaii trip, sophomore pitcher Brenna Mitchell now leads ART U and adds four home runs (11th in PacWest) with 16 runs batted in. PacWest Newcomer of the Week after the Chaminade series, freshman infielder Brenna Youngquist is hitting .393 with three home runs and team-highs in RBIs (22, 12th in PacWest) and doubles (8). She has had 10 multi-hit games thus far. Although freshman infielder Juliana Lopez's hitting streak ended at 11 games in Hawaii, she still maintains a 22-game streak of having reached base.

In the pitcher's circle, Mitchell improved to 8-5 and dropped her ERA to 2.53 (10th in PacWest) with six complete games among her 85.2 innings pitched as well as 50 strikeouts.

AR-GO TIME
Notre Dame de Namur won four games in Hawaii, sweeping BYU-Hawaii and Chaminade, but that stretch was bookended a 1-8 start and a 0-8 current losing streak. The Argos fell to Chaminade, Dixie State, and California Baptist during the most recent sequence. Toni Cardoza is the team's offensive leader, hitting .353 with one home run and five RBIs while Shelby Reali (3-10) owns a 3.36 ERA in 11 starts with 35 strikeouts in 68.2 innings pitched. Historically, the Knights hold a 16-15 edge on NDNU after taking three of four from the Argos last season.

DOMINI-CAN DO
The Penguins started the year 3-12 then broke through for seven wins in 10 matches in Hawaii. Since that time, however, Dominican dropped both doubleheaders to California Baptist and Dixie State. Catlyn Cavender leads the team with a .326 batting average, two home runs, and eight RBIs. Defensively, Gaby Katafias (3-3) has thrown 41.1 innings and offers a 3.70 ERA while Ashlyn Moriarity (2-4) has a team-high 52.1 innings to her name with a 3.96 ERA. Academy of Art leads the all-time matchup 20-10.

SOFTBALL GOES 5-5 IN HAWAII
Playing roughly one-fifth of its 2016 season on the Hawaiian Islands, Academy of Art opened its 10-game roadtrip by going 3-1 against Chaminade including a 14-run explosion that tied the program record and featured a new single-game RBI record of six set by Youngquist. From there, the Knights split with BYU-Hawaii 8-0 and 4-6 as well as Hawaii Pacific 5-3 and 6-7 in nine innings. On the final gameday, ART U sustained a pair of tough run-rule losses to PacWest standings leader UH Hilo.

LOOKING AHEAD
The Urban Knights' final regular season non-conference games open the month of April as ART U heads to Turlock for Stanislaus State's Tournament of Champions. Three straight days of doubleheaders will feature matchups with Sonoma State and Cal State Monterey Bay (Apr. 1), Stanislaus State and No. 25 UC San Diego (Apr. 2), and Cal State Dominguez Hills as well as Simon Fraser (Apr. 3).