In a year that saw 13 games canceled due to inclement weather that swept through the Bay Area and beyond, ART U 2019 highlights included a mid-season surge ending the Tournament of Champions then into a Hawaii roadtrip, six straight wins to close the year, and the team's second All-Region honoree. For more on the Knights' accomplishments last year, click here!

ART U's 52-game regular season schedule begins in Las Vegas with the Montana State Billings Desert Stinger Tournament at the start of February (Live Stats, Homepage), takes the team to Southern California twice on either side of a 12-part homestand at Brisbane (Feb. 29 - Mar. 15) then remains local after the Tournament of Champions through the end of April. For more on the Knights' 2020 schedule, click here!

Composing the program's largest senior class since 2013 are outfielder Gabi Hirsch, infielder Gracie Sotomayor, utility Dominique Seva'aetasi, catcher Austyn Matlick, and pitcher Hannah Rose Balke. All four-year student-athletes with ART U, the quintet serves as the backbone of the team in 2020. Coming off a year in which they served as three of the team's top five hitters, Sotomayor brings the success of being a two-time All-PacWest Team selection (2018, 2017) while both Hirsch (2018) and Seva'aetasi (2017) were individual honorees previously. Balke, who also earned All-PacWest Team in 2017 and is one of just four Knights to log more than 330 innings pitched, will look to close her career in style as she remains just three shutouts and seven wins from breaking program records.

Rounding out Academy of Art's upperclassmen are five juniors including catcher Lauryn Henderson, who became the third Urban Knight ever to receive All-Region Team honors last season. The 2019 Tournament of Champions Batting Champion broke out as a sophomore, posting the highest slugging percentage in the program's single-season history (.802, second in West Region) while adding 10 home runs (second in program history, sixth in West Region), a .500 on-base percentage (second in ART U history, fifth in West Region), and a .423 batting average (fourth in ART U history, seventh in West Region). Henderson's class also features pitcher Cecilia Lopez (led PacWest with just 1.09 walks allowed per seven innings pitched), catcher Alyssa Brundage, utility Alyssa Rasmussen, outfielder Jamie Batto (a transfer from Solano Community College).

Building off their first year with the program in 2019, a trio of sophomores is made up of outfielder Bethany Mitchell, catcher/utility Cassandra Mittman, and pitcher/utility Haley Arnold-Jolley. In 14.0 innings of relief work, Arnold-Jolley offered a 1.00 earned run average which led the team.

Held in high regard for their work ethic through the fall, the team's two freshmen, outfielder Emily Montes (Las Loma High) and infielder Haley Randall (Northgate High) are set to make important contributions in the season ahead. Both four-year varsity letter winners at their respective high schools, Montes and Randall each hit over .350 in their careers while averaging more than one run scored per game.

Ready to draw upon a strong core of returners and talented new additions, ART U Softball pens its first chapter of 2020 this Friday in Vegas.