BRISBANE, Calif. – Setting up its final two home games of the season on Saturday, Academy of Art University softball celebrated its three seniors, outfielder Mariah Latham, pitcher Alexa Peters, and outfielder Jessica West, prior to first pitch against Holy Names. All three contributed to the Urban Knights' 7-6 victory in the opener, however, the Hawks responded by taking game two 4-2 behind a quality outing from their starting pitcher.

GAME 1 – ART U 7, HNU 6
In her 100th career appearance, Peters opened with a scoreless first frame and was rewarded with a one-run lead after ART U converted on a single by sophomore outfielder Juliana Lopez, a walk to West, and later a run-scoring single by freshman infielder Freddie Carrillo.

Three hits led to two runs and a 2-1 advantage for Holy Names in the second, but Academy of Art retook the lead in the bottom half. Junior infielder Samantha Klune delivered a pair on a double down the left field line and later freshman catcher Ryia Grant added one more on a groundout. When the dust had settled, the Knights were back ahead 5-2.

The Hawks pushed three across in the third to retie the game, 5-5, as the contest's see-saw nature continued. ART U made another move in its half of the third, scoring on an error with the bases loaded, however, the 6-5 margin was short-lived because HNU came back with another run in the fourth.

Aggressive base-running by West resulted in what would be the game's most decisive score in the bottom of the fourth. After walking for the 70th time in her career (further pushing the program's record), West swiped second and, after the Hawks failed to back up the play in centerfield, she crossed home plate to put the Knights up 7-6.

Freshman pitcher Hannah Rose Balke (19-8) faced runners in scoring position in the fifth through the seventh innings, but worked with the defense to keep Holy Names off the scoreboard, preserving the 7-6 victory.

GAME 2 – HNU 4, ART U 2
A clean first inning by Balke set up ART U's initial scoring opportunity in the bottom of the first inning and the Knights capitalized. A single by freshman infielder Gracie Sotomayor plus a stolen base set up West's run-scoring single up the middle. Continuing the day's trend, the score was retied at 1-1 in the second with a pair of doubles from the Hawks.

After two walks began the third, Holy Names claimed a 3-1 advantage on back-to-back run-scoring singles. That margin held for an inning before the visitors added one more in the fifth, but it was negated in the bottom half when Carrillo drove in Sotomayor. Academy of Art had an opportunity for more with freshman utility Dominique Seva'aetasi at the plate, but an unfortunate foul out kept the score 4-2 Hawks.

With Seva'aetasi, HNU starter Anekalia Crevani (1-7) retired four consecutive batters to take her team into the seventh where Sotomayor led off with a double to immediately bring the tying run to the plate. In the end, however, Holy Names was able to make the defensive plays it needed to hold on for a 4-2 victory.

Now 22-22 overall this season, Academy of Art remains above .500 in PacWest play at 14-12. Seva'aetasi continued her hot streak with a 3-for-4 performance on the day, making her 11-for-13 over the past two weeks. Klune drove in a pair of runs in the first contest and Carrillo registered a RBI in each game, pushing her to become the third Knight with 20 RBIs on the year. Balke earned her 19th victory of the season after tossing 4.2 relief innings with one run allowed on five hits.

Holy Names moves to 5-34 on the year and 3-23 in conference action. Kiana Evans finished the day 4-for-7 with three RBIs to lead the Hawks while Crevani picked up her first win of the year with two runs allowed on six hits in 7.0 innings of game two.

Although the Urban Knights have played their final home games of 2017, there are still six contests left on the road. ART U begins with two local opponents in Notre Dame de Namur (Apr. 19) and Dominican (Apr. 22) next week.