Bouncing back from a first game that was packed with offensive highlights, Academy of Art University softball ended its weekend Pacific West Conference series versus UH Hilo with a split by taking the finale. Three ties and two lead changes came in the final four innings of what turned into a nine-inning battle in game one, but the Vulcans managed to eke out an 11-10 victory before the Urban Knights used an early four-run rally to prevail 5-2 in game two.
GAME 1 – UH Hilo 11, ART U 10 (9)
After the visitors established a three-run lead through the first three innings, it was in the fifth that ART U broke through. Freshman utility
Dominique Seva'aetasi provided the infield single to score the Knights first run and that would give way to a bigger rally in the sixth when sophomore infielder
Brenna Youngquist drew a bases loaded walk and redshirt freshman catcher
Adrianna Rupright drove in two on a single.
Now up 4-3 and just three outs away from a victory in the seventh, Academy of Art could not close the door as UH Hilo responded with four runs to not only tie game one, but take a 7-4 lead. The Knights got two on for Youngquist in the bottom half of the inning and she blasted a clutch three-run homer over the right field fence to tie it up 7-7 with one dramatic swing of the bat.
The eighth saw the Vulcans go ahead once more 9-7 on Leah Gonzales' run-scoring single and an error, but yet again ART U provided the rebuttal with bases loaded walks by sophomore utility
Juliana Lopez and senior outfielder
Jessica West. A 9-9 tie was broken in the ninth on Cristina Menjivar's two-run single and, though Academy of Art plated one on senior pitcher
Alexa Peters' single in the bottom half, UH Hilo got the outs it needed to prevail 11-10.
GAME 2 – ART U 5, UH Hilo 2
Similarly to the day prior, the Urban Knights unleashed their offense early in game two, scoring four runs in the bottom of the second inning. Highlighting the rally was a run-scoring single by West and a sacrifice fly by freshman infielder
Freddie Carrillo.
The very next inning, the Vulcans halved the ART U lead with a triple and two singles, making it 4-2 midway through. Freshman pitcher
Hannah Rose Balke (10-5) faced a bases loaded situation in the fourth, but made her exit on a groundout and, although UH Hilo put runners in scoring position over what became a rainy and windy next two innings, she kept the visitors' potent offense off the scoreboard.
Three singles including one that produced a run came from freshman infielder
Gracie Sotomayor, Lopez, and Carrillo in the sixth to make it a 5-2 ballgame. Balke worked with the ART U defense to get three consecutive outs in the seventh, securing the victory.
Academy of Art finishes the weekend 14-16 overall and 8-10 in conference play. Carrillo was the only Knight with two hits in both games, finishing the doubleheader 4-for-5 with two runs batted in. Youngquist was 1-for-2 with the homer and four RBIs in game one and Rupright ended up 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs in that same contest. West was 3-for-6 with two RBIs Sunday as well. Balke took a no-decision in the opener and picked up a relief win after 4.0 scoreless innings in game two.
UH Hilo wraps up the series now 11-15 overall and 5-11 in PacWest action. Menjivar was 4-for-5 with three RBIs in the opening game and Bailey Gaspar finished the day 4-for-6 with two RBIs and five runs scored. Danielle Wilson (5-7) earned the relief win in game one and lost the finale, ending the day with six runs allowed in 7.2 innings of work.
The Knights return to Mission Blue Field on Wednesday, Mar. 29 to host Hawaii Pacific in another PacWest Conference noon doubleheader.
