Games #13 & 14
ART U Urban Knights (6-6) vs. Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks (18-6)
Wednesday, April 7, 2021 at Noon & 2 p.m.
San Rafael, Calif. – Penguin Field
Live Stats & Video
 
Games #15 & 16
ART U Urban Knights (6-6, 6-6 PacWest) vs. Holy Names Hawks (4-8, 4-8 PacWest)
Friday, April 9, 2021 at 1 & 3 p.m.
Brisbane, Calif. – Mission Blue Field
Live Stats & Video

Games #17 & 18
ART U Urban Knights (6-6, 6-6 PacWest) vs. Holy Names Hawks (4-8, 4-8 PacWest)
Saturday, April 10, 2021 at Noon & 2 p.m.
Brisbane, Calif. – Mission Blue Field
Live Stats & Video

Games #19 & 20
ART U Urban Knights (6-6) vs. No. 14 Concordia Eagles (12-7)
Monday, April 12, 2021 at 10 a.m. & Noon
Brisbane, Calif. – Mission Blue Field
Live Stats & Video

NON-CONFERENCE ACTION VERSUS NNU, CUI BOOKENDS KNIGHTS' SERIES WITH HNU
Some new additions to the schedule have Academy of Art softball set for one of its busiest weeks of the 2021 season. After facing Northwest Nazarene on Wednesday, the Urban Knights will play their second Pacific West Conference series with Holy Names on Friday and Saturday then wrap up with a non-conference pair hosting No. 14 Concordia on Monday.

FIRST PITCH
ART U's first look at Northwest Nazarene comes this Wednesday, Apr. 7, the series with the Hawks spans four contests over Friday and Saturday, Apr. 9-10, and the CUI matchup takes place on Monday, Apr. 12. All doubleheaders will take place at Mission Blue Field and are set to begin at noon except for a 1 p.m. start on Friday with HNU as the host team and a 10 a.m. start on Monday. 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
Currently riding a stretch of five straight games with nine hits or more, Academy of Art now ranks fourth in the PacWest in batting average (.292) while sitting second overall with 10 home runs. A total of five Urban Knights are hitting above .300 led by graduate student infielder Chelsea Sligh whose .412 batting average is fifth in the conference. Right behind her is junior catcher Lauryn Henderson at .405 with three home runs (tied for second in the PacWest) and nine runs batted in to go with a current 11-game reached base streak. A seven-game hitting streak has freshman infielder Haley Randall next at .393 with three homers of her own plus a team-high 10 RBIs (tied for sixth in the PacWest). Sophomore outfielder Bethany Mitchell's five doubles are the most on the team and her .351 batting average was boosted up by a 5-for-8 doubleheader most recently. Finally, graduate student outfielder Gabi Hirsch checks in swinging at a .341 clip to go with a 5-for-5 effort in stolen bases thus far. Hirsch, whose 59 career thefts are now five back of the program record (Haily MacDonald's 64), is currently 10th in the PacWest in steals and one of just two student-athletes yet to be thrown out among that list. Contributing to ART U's recent breakout offensively, junior catcher Alyssa Brundage has a four RBIs in her last two games while becoming the ninth Urban Knight to double this year.

Supporting a pitching staff whose earned run average (2.83) is fifth in the PacWest, junior pitcher Cecilia Lopez (2-1) and senior Hannah Rose Balke (4-3) have each won their last combined five starts since Mar. 20. Both rank among the conference's top 10 ERAs with Lopez sixth at 2.19 and Balke 10th at 2.55. Balke's 25 strikeouts are sixth in the PacWest while the five walks for Lopez are the fewest among conference pitchers with a 2.55 ERA or lower.

NIGHT(HAWKS) TIME
Currently holding the most wins in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with an 18-6 overall record, Northwest Nazarene's eight-game win streak was broken up by Western Oregon on Mar. 26. The Nighthawks and Wolves split their most recent eight-game series with WOU winning three of the final four. Four NNU student-athletes are hitting over .400 led by Sidney Booth's .448 average which comes with seven home runs and a team-high 25 RBIs while Ivy Hommel (.412) offers a team-best 21 stolen bases through just 22 games. Defensively, Booth (8-2) also incredibly leads the team with a 1.44 ERA and 94 strikeouts in 68.0 innings pitched. After sweeping their last meeting in 2017, ART U leads the historical series with Northwest Nazarene 5-2.

THE HOLY LAND
After splitting their first series in mid-May, Holy Names went on to drop three of four to Dominican, putting them at 4-8 on the year. Lyndsey Widner, who had her lone hitless appearance of the season against Balke on Mar. 19, has since upped her batting average to .594 to lead the PacWest and move to fifth in all of NCAA Division II. She is one of five Hawks with five or more RBIs; a group led by Kimberlee Walston who has seven to go with a .357 batting average. In the pitcher's circle, Chailey Stewart (0-2) has the lowest ERA on the squad (1.31) while Haighley Kissee (1-2) has tossed the most innings at 27.0. After this year has continued a more recent five-year trend of trading doubleheaders, ART U is 28-13 all-time against HNU.

EAGLES COMING IN FOR A LANDING
Off to a strong start after defeating Oklahoma Christian (ranked No. 10 at the time) in two out of three games during a 4-0 open to 2021, No. 14 Concordia finds itself 12-7 after falling in three of four to Biola most recently. The Eagles will face Azusa Pacific on Apr. 6 prior to traveling north for Monday's matchup with Academy of Art. Former PacWest Pitcher of the Year Callie Nunes (5-3) currently sits third on the team with her 2.82 ERA while Rae Flores (2-0) leads with a 1.62 average. At .344, McKinsey Thorpe is one of just three student-athletes on the team hitting over .300 and Missy Nemeth (.283) paces the squad with five home runs (tied for the lead in the PacWest) plus 18 RBIs (second in PacWest). A storied rivalry throughout their four meetings during the 2018 season, the Knights and Eagles have met 12 times previously with Concordia up 11-1.

HOMERS, 20 HITS HIGHLIGHT ART U's SPLIT WITH DOMINICAN
Continuing its offensive success, Academy of Art softball hit Dominican hard throughout a Mar. 27 PacWest doubleheader at Mission Blue Field and walked away with a split, winning the opener 7-3 and nearly completing a comeback in an 8-7 loss in game two. The Urban Knights scored all seven of its game one runs on extra-base hits including a two-homer performance from freshman infielder Haley Randall then the ART U bats put up 13 hits in the series finale, two during a four-run seventh inning rally, but could not bring home the winning run from second base.

ON THE HORIZON
The Urban Knights will resume PacWest play with a four-part series versus Dominican that includes a home twinbill on Apr. 16 followed by a pair in San Rafael on Apr. 17.