BRISBANE, Calif. – Stepping right up to the challenge of facing No. 14 Concordia, Academy of Art softball came one swing shy from an upset, but the Eagles wound up securing both sides of Monday's non-conference doubleheader at Mission Blue Field. A pitchers' duel from the start, game one saw the Urban Knights get the winning run to first base in the seventh inning before CUI held on for the 3-2 victory. Two big visitor rallies opened game two which led them to a 10-2 final score in five innings.
GAME 1 - #14 CUI 3, ART U 2
Though a fielding error opened the game, junior catcher
Alyssa Brundage quickly erased the lead base runner when she tried to steal third and senior pitcher
Hannah Rose Balke (6-5) promptly ended the first inning with a strikeout. Just two hits spanned the next two frames as Balke matched scoreless innings with Callie Nunes (7-3).
After an unearned run scored on an error in the fourth, Concordia added onto its 1-0 lead thanks to baserunners and wild pitches in the fifth. Balke still notched a pair of strikeouts to prevent further damage in that inning, sending her team into the bottom half with a 3-0 deficit. Freshman infielder
Haley Randall opened the Knights' attack with a single to break up Nunes' perfect game bid, but could not convert.
That changed in the sixth, however, when a leadoff walk by freshman infielder
Cassidy Kachnik was built upon by a walk for sophomore outfielder
Bethany Mitchell then a run-scoring single from junior catcher/infielder
Lauryn Henderson who had been named Pacific West Conference Player of the Week literally minutes earlier. Randall, who picked up her second PacWest weekly honor as Freshman of the Week, promptly delivered ART U's second run on a sacrifice fly and suddenly it was a one-run game.
In the bottom of the seventh still down 3-2, Academy of Art mounted another comeback with singles by Kachnik and Mitchell to put the winning run at first base. An unfortunate groundout spelled the end though as the Eagles snuck away with the victory.
GAME 2 - #14 CUI 10, ART U 2 (5)
Four hits produced four runs for Concordia at the start of the day's finale and, following a quiet bottom of the first, the Eagles moved up 7-0 with another rally. The ART U offense began to pick up in the fourth when a walk by Mitchell, a Henderson single, and Randall being hit by a pitch loaded the bases for sophomore catcher/infielder
Cassandra Mittman. After working a 2-2 count, the Web Design & New Media major launched her second double of the season into center field, plating two of her teammates.
Sophomore pitcher
Haley Arnold-Jolley (2-2), who had come on in relief of Balke in the second inning, started the fifth by getting a pair of flyouts, but an untimely error let two unearned runs in which eventually led to the run-rule being triggered in a 10-2 final.
The Urban Knights, now 11-9 overall, saw increases to both Randall's hitting streak (15 games) and Henderson's reached base streak (18 games) as the duo each posted hits in both contests while each also drove in one run apiece in game one. Mittman's 1-for-2 effort in the day's finale came with two RBIs to give her seven driven in across her last four games. Balke was charged with the loss in both contests despite logging her seventh complete game of the year with just two earned runs allowed on seven hits with five strikeouts in the opener.
Rising to 19-8 overall, Concordia rode offense from Missy Nemeth and Jocelyn Pino who combined to go 8-for-11 with four doubles and four RBIs. Nunes earned the game one victory with two runs allowed on two hits plus three strikeouts in 5.2 innings while Erika Morris picked up the save in that contest with 1.1 shutout relief innings. Courtney Koelmans (2-2) was the winning pitcher to end the day despite surrendering two runs on two hits in 2.0 innings of relief.
ART U will open its third PacWest series with Dominican this Friday, Apr. 16 with a noon doubleheader back at Mission Blue Field.
