Games #5 & 6
ART U Urban Knights (1-3, 1-3 PacWest) vs. Holy Names Hawks (1-3, 1-3 PacWest)
Friday, March 19, 2021 at Noon & 2 p.m.
San Rafael, Calif. – Penguin Field
Live Stats & Video
 
Games #7 & 8
ART U Urban Knights (1-3, 1-3 PacWest) vs. Holy Names Hawks (1-3, 1-3 PacWest)
Saturday, March 20, 2021 at Noon & 2 p.m.
Brisbane, Calif. – Mission Blue Field
Live Stats & Video

ACADEMY OF ART GETS FIRST LOOK AT HOLY NAMES
After having a week off from competition, Academy of Art softball opens a two-day four-game Pacific West Conference series with Holy Names this Friday and Saturday.

FIRST PITCH
Schedule adjustments have ART U and HNU swapping hosting duties so the Hawks will now be the home team on Friday, Mar. 19 out at Dominican's Penguin Field in San Rafael. The following day, Saturday, Mar. 20, the Urban Knights play host to Holy Names at Mission Blue Field. Both doubleheaders are set to begin at noon. Remember to follow @ARTU_Knights via the athletics app (Apple App Store, Google Play Store) and on Twitter & Instagram, as well as "Like" the Urban Knights on Facebook for score updates, videos, and recaps.

KNIGHT WATCH
After splitting its final day of a four-part series with Dominican to open the season, Academy of Art is 1-3 both overall and in conference play. The victory came by a score of 3-0 on Mar. 6 and featured a combined shutout from senior pitcher Hannah Rose Balke (1-1) and Cecilia Lopez (0-1). As a team, the Urban Knights' 2.42 earned run average ranks fifth in the PacWest.
 
One of just two PacWest softball student-athletes who is perfect in steal attempts and has three or more, graduate student outfielder Gabi Hirsch's trio of thefts thus far has her now tied with Elyse Cordova for second in the program's career history at 57, trailing only Haily MacDonald's 64. Regularly having an opportunity to steal, Hirsch leads ART U with a .538 batting average (7-for-13) which ranks eighth in the conference. Currently tied for second with identical .364 averages are sophomore outfielder Bethany Mitchell and graduate student infielder Chelsea Sligh while freshman pitcher/infielder Katie Humphreys' two runs batted in pace the squad.

Ranked fourth in the PacWest with a 1.00 ERA, Lopez has allowed just one run in her first 7.0 innings of work which include one save. Balke, who has tossed a team-high 15.0 innings, follows with a 2.33 ERA, has struck out 10, and is one win back of ART U's career leader, Sierrah Garcia (39).

TALKIN' HAWKS
Playing its first series with Dominican like Academy of Art, Holy Names also went 1-3, playing into extra innings twice before winning the final contest 11-8. Starting the season with an extremely hot bat, Lyndsey Widner is 7-for-10 with four of those hits going for extra bases. She adds three RBIs while Kimberlee Walston has opened 4-for-8 with two RBIs and two stolen bases. Defensively, Chailey Stewart (0-2) owns the lowest ERA on the team (1.31) having pitched a team-high 10.2 innings thus far. ART U and HNU have met 37 times previously with the Knights owning a 26-11 advantage historically.

ON THE HORIZON
Next Friday and Saturday, Mar. 26-27 will see Academy of Art rematch Dominican for a four-game series. Friday's games are slated to be hosted by the Penguins.