KANEOHE, Hawaii – For the second consecutive gameday, Academy of Art softball brought out the brooms.
Starting its series with Hawaii Pacific, the Urban Knights were guided by a three-hit shutout from junior pitcher
Hannah Rose Balke (5-7) in a 2-0 win in game one then sophomore pitcher
Cecilia Lopez (7-3) followed by not allowing an earned run while ART U amassed 12 hits in a 7-3 victory to complete the sweep at Howard A. Okita Field on Tuesday.
"The team has really started catching a groove and is beginning to feed off of one another," said head coach
Alex Gomez. "It's been great to see the starting 10 get the job done, but we also have players who are coming off the bench and executing. The pitchers worked hard today and our offense produced what it needed to."
GAME 1 – ART U 2, HPU 0
After starting the contest with two scoreless innings, it was the third frame that saw Academy of Art bring home the first run of the game. A two-out single by junior utility Dominque Seva'aetasi was followed up by a double into the gap in left center which gave the Knights a 1-0 advantage.
Balke, who had gotten herself out of a bases-loaded jam in the second unscathed, was rolling amid a stretch of 12 consecutive Sharks retired and, despite a bit of trouble in the sixth, she once again forced HPU to strand two runners in scoring position after successfully reading a suicide squeeze play. That momentum carried into the top of the seventh inning where a leadoff single by junior infielder
Gracie Sotomayor later helped the Knights double their lead when Seva'aetasi plated her teammate on another shot up the middle.
Supported with a 2-0 advantage, Balke wrapped up her third shutout of the season with a relatively quick final inning, ending with a final line of no runs on three hits and two walks in a complete 7.0 innings in the circle.
"The first game there is always pressure because you don't want to be chasing your first win in the second game of the day," said Gomez. "We went with Hannah because she showed some amazing stuff on Sunday and she held it down today, pitching a stellar first game even when we only scored two runs."
GAME 2 – ART U 7, HPU 3
Like the series opener, Academy of Art was the first to score, doing so on a Seva'aetasi single, a steal of second, and later an error on a double steal attempt that allowed her to score. Coming off the excitement of a double play turned by sophomore infielder
Lauryn Henderson and Sotomayor in the second, the Knights rallied for two more in the third. Junior outfielder
Gabi Hirsch and Seva'aetasi started with back-to-back singles, eventually setting up freshman utility
Nikki West's run-scoring single and a sacrifice fly from senior infielder
Brenna Youngquist.
In the fourth inning, one hit and two errors gave Hawaii Pacific life, tying the game at 3-3, but Lopez and the ART U defense held the line in the fifth and the sixth so that the offense might go on to break through. The sixth saw the Knights begin with a walk by freshman outfielder
Bethany Mitchell, a successful sacrifice bunt from junior infielder
Celena New, and eventually an error brought in the tiebreaking run.
Two strikeouts for Lopez in the sixth gave way to another Academy of Art rally in the seventh. A one-out Henderson double led her to score on Youngquist's single then, with the bases loaded, New delivered a two-run single and a 7-3 advantage for the visitors. A three-up, three-down seventh inning secured the win, finishing the fifth consecutive complete game victory for Lopez. All three of her runs allowed, which came on five hits and one walk, were unearned while she added three strikeouts.
"Cece had to work hard in the second game," said Gomez. "She had to put the ball more in the white than she prefers, but our defense held it together and the offense finally opened up at the end."
Now winners of five straight and eight of their last nine, the Knights (13-10, 9-4 PacWest) had three players hit .500 on the day including Seva'aetasi (4-for-8 with three runs scored, one run batted in, one steal), Youngquist (2-for-4 with two RBIs and three walks to put her three from breaking the ART U career record), and sophomore catcher
Alyssa Brundage (2-for-4). Henderson added a 2-for-5 day highlighted by two doubles, one RBI, and two runs scored while Hirsch and West had three hits apiece. New's two RBIs were the first of her Academy of Art career.
HPU falls to 27-22 overall this season and 18-12 in conference action. Sierra Dias, who went 2-for-7, was the lone Shark with a hit in each contest and Brandi Leong had the team's one RBI on the day.
ART U and Hawaii Pacific will finish its four-game series tomorrow with another doubleheader at Howard A. Okita with first pitch slated for 1 p.m. HT (4 p.m. PT).
"The team has to stay focused on one game at a time," said Gomez. "They have to remember not to get complacent and to keep putting pressure on the opponent to force them to make mistakes and capitalize on everything. I think the team has what it takes and I think they're eager to get it done and move on to the next part of the roadtrip."
