BRISBANE, Calif. – Academy of Art University softball turned in two of its best all-around performances Saturday hosting BYU-Hawaii at Mission Blue Field. Sophomore True Park (2-3) struck out a career-high seven batters and a four-run sixth inning led the Urban Knights to an 8-1 victory in game one before freshman Hannah Rose Balke (6-3) shut out the Seasiders while ART U stole eight bases and scored in every inning en route to a five-inning 8-0 victory to complete the sweep.

GAME 1 – ART U 8, BYUH 1
For all the offense that would be scored on Saturday, it was BYU-Hawaii that scored first, putting together a brief rally for one run in the opening inning. The momentum changed in the second inning, however, when Park struck out two of three batters and sophomore infielder Brenna Youngquist delivered the tying run on a double then freshman catcher Ryia Grant added a sacrifice fly for the 2-1 lead.

Park's fourth strikeout in a five-batter span started the third and she continued to post scoreless frames the rest of the way. The lead became 3-1 in the bottom half of that inning on freshman infielder Freddie Carrillo's run-scoring double and, in the sixth, Carrillo and sophomore utility Juliana Lopez executed a double steal of second and home for a 4-1 margin.

Academy of Art doubled that run total in the sixth when singles by freshman infielder Gracie Sotomayor and senior outfielder Jessica West plus a squeeze bunt by Lopez and an error pushed the Knights ahead 8-1. There the lead would stay through one more half inning.

GAME 2 – ART U 8, BYUH 0 (5)
The Academy of Art offense thrived early and often in the day's finale. Three stolen bases and three doubles produced a 3-0 advantage in the first inning with Carrillo's two-run two-bagger among the highlights. In the second inning, Lopez doubled home Sotomayor and another double steal of second base and home plate made it 5-0 Knights.

After striking out four through the first two innings, Balke retired the next six batters she faced and by the top of the fifth, had eight runs of support. The third inning had seen sacrifice flies by Grant and Sotomayor and the fourth featured a run-scoring single from junior infielder Samantha Klune. Fittingly, Balke finished off the mercy rule victory with a lineout right into her own glove.

ART U improves to 9-7 overall and 3-1 in PacWest play with the day's results. Park's complete 7.0 innings with a single run allowed was her best performance of the season and came with a career-high seven strikeouts. Balke continued to drop her earned run average with the first shutout of her collegiate career, going 5.0 innings while surrendering just three hits and striking out six.

On the day, freshman utility Dominique Seva'aetasi was 3-for-4 with the first double of her career while Lopez finished 4-for-6 with four runs scored, four stolen bases (three in game two), two doubles, and two runs batted in. Carrillo went 3-for-6 with three RBIs and two doubles, pushing what is now the team's season-best 10-game hit streak. Klune went 3-for-7 with two doubles as well. Despite going 1-for-4 on the day, West was on base quite a bit, walking three times, stealing three bases, and score three times, keeping her 16-game reached base streak alive.

For BYU-Hawaii, now 6-14 overall and 5-5 in conference play, Alanna Anderson had the Seasiders' lone RBI while going 1-for-4 with a double.

Weather permitting, Academy of Art will face Notre Dame de Namur tomorrow beginning a doubleheader back at Mission Blue Field at 1 p.m.