Waipahu, Hawaii -- Concluding their Hawaiian road trip with a double header Thursday evening, the Academy of Art University went head to head with Chaminade University. The Urban Knights came out strong eager to finish the Hawaiian series on a high note. Key pitching and timely hits allowed the Urban Knights to take control of the games as they ended up winning both games with final scores of 5-0 and 9-1.

Box Score #1

Academy of Art University batters struggled with the off speed pitching from the Chaminade Silver Swords in the first few innings of game one. But strong pitching by the Urban Knights, kept them in the game as well as keeping the Silver Sword's offense quiet. The Urban Knights finally got their own offense going in the third inning.

In the top of the third, Jacqueline Nieves reached first on a fielder's choice and then stole second. Sierrah Garcia then singled to left field advancing Nieves to third. Garcia then stole second. Ashley Roy followed with a double up the middle scoring both Nieves from third and Garcia from second. Taking an early two run lead the Urban Knights never looked back from there. The Academy of Art University soon realized that a two run lead was not enough, and they were able to string some hits together to manufacture more runs. In the top of the sixth inning Ashley Roy started the inning off by reaching first base on an error. Alana Aweau then reached first on a fielder's choice, and Roy was safe at second due to an error by the pitcher. Nicole Palmer followed with a single to right field, scoring Roy and advancing Aweau to second base. Shampayne Clay then reached on a fielder's choice, as Aweau was out at third on the play. With runners on first and second, Shelby LaFond came up big and hit a hard line drive to right field for a single, scoring both Palmer and Clay. Those three extra runs would be enough to hold Chaminade, as the Urban Knights ended up taking the game with a final score of 5-0. Freshman Sierrah Garcia was on the mound for the Academy of Art University. She pitched a complete game shutout going seven innings pitched, giving up no runs and only four hits. Garcia managed no walks and four strikeouts in the game.

Timely hits were key for the Urban Knight's in the game, and many players contributed to that. Sierrah Garcia had a good game going 2-3 with a stolen base and a run scored, and Shelby LaFond went 1-2 with two runs batted in. Ashley Roy went 1-3 with a double, a run scored and two runs batted in, Shampayne Clay also went 1-3 with a run scored and Crista Sykes went 1-3 in the game. For the Chaminade Silverswords, Keli-Grace Seniatan, Angel Mahaulu, Shalin Yamaguchi and Melissa Harris each went 1-3 in the game.

The Academy of Art University scored five runs on seven hits, with no errors and left four runners on base.

Box Score #2

The second game started off much like the first. It took a few innings for the Urban Knights to get their offense going. But tough pitching and solid defense backing it up, kept the Urban Knights in control of the game.

The Academy of Art University struck first with a run in the third inning.  With one out in the top of the inning, Sierrah Garcia drew a walk to get things going. Ashley Roy then singled, advancing Garcia to second. They then executed a double steal with Garcia safe at third and Roy safe at second. Alana Aweau then hit a deep sacrifice fly to right field scoring Garcia from third. That one run would be all they could manage to score in the inning.

But the Academy of Art University wasted no time in adding to their lead. In the top of the fourth inning Nicole Palmer started things off by reaching first base on an error. Melissa Coe then moved her over to second with a ground out to third. Shelby LaFond next singled to shortstop to score Palmer from second. The Urban Knights then took a small two run lead going into the second half of the game.

Things were looking good for the Academy of Art University, as their pitching and defense was holding strong. But in the bottom of the sixth inning the Silver Swords scored a run off a solo homerun. This cut the lead in half going into the seventh inning.

The Urban Knight offense then exploded in the top of the seventh. They batted around the order for a combined total of seven runs and nine hits, including six singles and three doubles. Now with an eight run lead, the Academy of Art University's pitching came into play, shutting out the Silver Swords in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Urban Knights ended up winning the game with a final score of 9-1.

For the Urban Knight Shelby LaFond had a great game going 3-4 with a run scored and two runs batted in and Ashley Roy went 2-3 with a stolen base, and a run scored. Shampayne Clay went 2-4 with a double, a run scored and two runs batted in and Crista Sykes also went 2-4 with a double and a run batted in. Alana Aweau had a good game going 1-2 with a run scored and two runs batted in and Sierrah Garcia also went 1-2 with a stolen base and two runs scored. Nicole Palmer went 1-4 with a double, two runs scored and two RBI's in the game.
For Chaminade University, Chelsi Walls went 1-2 with a homerun, and Chasity Senas went 1-3 getting the only other hit for the Silver Swords in the game.

Sierrah Garcia was again on the mound for the Urban Knights. She went seven innings pitched giving up one earned run and only two hits. She had no walks and posted six strikeouts in the game.

The Urban Knights scored nine runs on twelve hits, with two errors and left five runners on base.

 

With the wins, the Academy of Art University improves to 9-23 on the season and Chaminade University's record falls to 1-17 overall. The Urban Knights return home to play Western Washington University on April 1. Games are set to take place at 1:00 and 3:00 pm in Turlock, Calif.