TURLOCK, Calif. – On the eve of the Tournament of Champions, presented by the City of Turlock, Academy of Art softball rallied for multiple runs on different occasions, but Chaminade came away with both Pacific West Conference victories in the rescheduled doubleheader at Stanislaus State's Warrior Softball Field on Thursday afternoon. The Urban Knights matched their season-high of 12 hits, initially keeping pace with a Silverswords team that built an early advantage, yet the CUH bats would end up powering an 11-3 victory to start before a 13-2 game two result.
GAME 1 – CUH 11, ART U 3
After a three-run double in the opening frame was followed up by four more runs in the inning that followed, Chaminade saw its 7-0 lead cut down in the bottom of the second. Academy of Art had its hit parade in full effect as singles by freshman utility
Marissa "Roo" Menard, junior outfielder
Maddie Sticka, and graduate student outfielder
Nina Vallejos all came with two outs. Vallejos drove in her squad's first run of the contest then senior outfielder
Bethany Mitchell roped her team-high ninth double of the year to right center, plating her two teammates. The fifth hit of the inning nearly scored another run for the Knights, but a rundown ended the rally.
Freshman pitcher
Kamielle Powell (4-11) proceeded to shut down the Silverswords on just five pitches in the third, but two ART U hits in the bottom half of the inning could not shorten the margin from 7-3. Chaminade came back with two more scores in the fourth and, though Academy of Art made it four consecutive innings with two hits by the fifth, the end result was an 11-3 win for CUH.
GAME 2 – CUH 13, ART U 2 (5)
Like the series' third contest, Chaminade was first to the scoreboard with two runs on three hits in the opening inning then pushing a 4-0 advantage by the end of the second. The third frame went quickly as both sides were retired in order, but a six-run rally was put forth by CUH in the fourth.
The Knights fought back against the 10-0 difference in the inning's bottom half as two base runners were brought home on junior utility
Cailee Grayhorse-Pupecki's single. After the Silverswords added to their lead in the fifth, the game concluded with them in front 13-2 at the end of that frame.
With the day's results, Academy of Art moves to 6-26 overall and 3-13 in conference play this season. Grayhorse-Pupecki pushed her current hitting streak to six games with a 3-for-6 twin bill that included two driven in while Mitchell ended the opening contest 2-for-4 with two runs batted in plus a double and Vallejos was 1-for-3 with one driven in and one run scored. Allen was 3-for-4 in the first game, marking her third time with three hits and Menard went 3-for-5 with a run scored on the day as her current reached base streak extended to seven games.
Chaminade, now 18-14 on the year and 11-11 in PacWest action, was led by Keaolani's 4-for-8 day that featured seven runs batted in, four runs scored, and two triples while Jaeda Cabunoc (3-2) picked up the game one win in the circle with three runs allowed on 12 hits, no walks, and two strikeouts in 7.0 innings before Taylor Genera (6-2) collected the win in the afternoon's finale, surrendering two runs on three hits with one walk and one strikeout in 5.0 innings of work.
Up next in the Tournament of Champions starting Friday, ART U is set to begin with Western Washington on Pedretti Park's Field 1 at 11:30 a.m. followed by Western Oregon on Pedretti Park's Field 3 at 7 p.m.
