BRISBANE, Calif. – After a sharing a special moment with visitors from San Francisco Little League prior to Sunday's games, Academy of Art University Softball proceeded to sweep its doubleheader with Saint Martin's (4-2 in game one and 4-1 in game two), making it four consecutive home wins to start 2018. The Urban Knights were led by a pair of impressive pitching performances from freshmen Brooke Larsen (3-1) and Cecilia Lopez (1-0) who both threw complete games with only one earned run allowed.

GAME 1 – ART U 4, SMU 2
The Saints were the first ones to score as they started the day with a pair of hits, a hit batter, and a bases-loaded walk in the first inning. After Larsen retired SMU in order in the second, ART U opened their half of the inning with six consecutive hits which included a run-scoring single from sophomore catcher Ryia Grant to tie the game and a run-scoring double by Larsen to give her squad a 2-1 advantage.

In the third, sophomore outfielder Gabi Hirsch used her speed to both reach on an error and steal second before freshman catcher Lauryn Henderson singled her home. Another error later extended the inning for sophomore infielder Gracie Sotomayor to drive in another run with a single and the lead became 4-1 at that point.

Larsen's string of nine consecutive outs was disrupted in the fourth when a walk and a single combined with an error to yield the second run for Saint Martin's. Academy of Art threatened for more in the fifth, but the 4-2 score would remain for the rest of the contest as Larsen finished the seventh with two more strikeouts.

GAME 2 – ART U 4, SMU 1
Both teams put runners into scoring position in the first inning of the day's finale, but it would not be until the second when the Urban Knights broke through. On consecutive singles by sophomore utility Dominique Seva'aetasi and freshman infielder Jayda Alaan, ART U plated two runs and exited the frame up 2-0.

In just her second collegiate start, two of Lopez's first four innings were three-up, three-down and she would carry a 4-0 lead into the fifth following a two-run error by the SMU defense in the bottom of the fourth. Though the fifth began with a pair of singles, Lopez responded by inducing a forceout at third and striking out the next two batters to preserve the lead.

The Saints used a solo homer from Julia Lucas to break up the shutout and proceeded to load the bases, but Lopez resiliently got the final groundout she needed, fielding her own position to seal the 4-1 victory for ART U.

In addition to being 4-0 at home, Academy of Art improves to 6-4 overall. In the circle, Larsen started the day with 7.0 strong innings, one earned run allowed on six hits and three walks, and five strikeouts. Lopez went the full 7.0 innings as well, surrendering just one run on eight hits with no walks and three strikeouts to earn her first collegiate victory.

Offensively, a total of four Knights hit .500 on the day led by Larsen's 3-for-6 doubleheader which included two doubles and one run batted in. Henderson was 2-for-4 with a RBI to her credit, Mitchell went 2-for-4, and Seva'aetasi scored three times while going 2-for-4 as well. Grant, Sotomayor, Hirsch, and Alaan each had one RBI apiece as ART U combined for six RBIs on 18 total hits.

Falling to 3-6 on the season, the Saints' day was highlighted by a 3-for-4 game one from Lindsay Miller and a 2-for-3 game two from Lucas who had the team's lone RBI in that contest.

The Urban Knights play one more doubleheader before the start of Pacific West Conference play and it will be a road gameday at Cal State Monterey Bay on Saturday, Feb. 18.