Game #12
ART U Urban Knights (5-6) vs. Azusa Pacific Cougars (12-12)
Thursday, March 28, 2019 at 6 p.m.
Turlock, Calif. –  Pedretti Park (Field 1)
Live Stats

Game #13
ART U Urban Knights (5-6) vs. No. 11 UC San Diego Tritons (20-6)
Friday, March 29, 2019 at 11:30 a.m.
Turlock, Calif. –  Pedretti Park (Field 3)
Live Stats

Game #14
ART U Urban Knights (5-6) vs. Central Washington Wildcats (17-6)
Friday, March 29, 2019 at 2 p.m.
Turlock, Calif. –  Pedretti Park (Field 3)
Live Stats

Game #15
ART U Urban Knights (5-6) vs. Cal State East Bay Pioneers (6-21)
Saturday, March 30, 2019 at 9 a.m.
Turlock, Calif. –  Pedretti Park (Field 5)
Live Stats

Game #16
ART U Urban Knights (5-6) vs. Concordia Cavaliers (14-12)
Saturday, March 30, 2019 at 12:30 p.m.
Turlock, Calif. –  Turlock Sports Complex
Live Stats

Game #17
ART U Urban Knights (5-6) vs. Montana State Billings Yellowjackets (7-14)
Sunday, March 31, 2019 at 11:30 a.m.
Turlock, Calif. –  Pedretti Park (Field 3)
Live Stats

ACADEMY OF ART TO MAKE UP GAMES WITH COUGARS, ENTER TOC
Having played half and in some cases one third of the contests as other teams in the Pacific West Conference due to wet Bay Area weather, Academy of Art softball will begin a busy week this Thursday with one makeup game against Azusa Pacific this Thursday before five contests across three days in Stanislaus State's Tournament of Champions in Turlock. Visit www.warriorathletics.com/TOC for more details regarding this year's Tournament of Champions.

FIRST PITCH
What will serve as the lone game between ART U's and Azusa Pacific this regular season comes on Thursday, Mar. 28 at 6 p.m. at Pedretti Park (Field 1), the site of the majority of the Urban Knights' games in the Tournament of Champions. The tourney begins on Friday, Mar. 29 with Academy of Art facing No. 11 UC San Diego at 11:30 a.m. and Central Washington at 2 p.m. both at Pedretti Park (Field 3). Day two, Saturday, Mar. 30, pits ART U against Cal State East Bay at 9 a.m. on Pedretti Park (Field 5) before a short trip to Turlock Sports Complex for a 12:30 p.m. pairing with Concordia (Ore.). On Sunday, Mar. 31, the tournament concludes with the Knights matching up with Montana State Billings at 11:30 a.m. back on Pedretti Park (Field 3). Live coverage will be available via the links above. 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.

Thursday's game versus APU will feature a special Strike Out Cancer promotion for Academy of Art. The Urban Knights will be wearing special jerseys in honor of Alex Wilcox, a Mississippi State softball student-athlete who passed away in 2018 after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2016.

KNIGHT WATCH
With one or more triples in each of its last four games, Academy of Art now ranks third in the PacWest in the category. Four of the team's top five hitters by batting average have gone for extra bases at least three times thus far and it is sophomore catcher Lauryn Henderson who now paces the squad with a .379 batting average (fifth in PacWest) which includes two home runs. Freshman utility Nikki West has tripled in two of her last three contests and now ranks second on the team with a .353 batting average (11th in PacWest) as well as tied for fourth in the conference in triples (2). West, who additionally ranks second in the PacWest in slugging percentage (.706), is followed closely by junior outfielder Gabi Hirsch (.350) who is currently riding a team-best five-game hit streak. Hirsch shares the spot of ART U's stolen base leader (4) with sophomore utility Dominique Seva'aetasi who is hitting .314 and also tied with senior infielder Brenna Youngquist. Updating her career watch, Youngquist's team-best 10 runs batted in have added to her 107 career RBIs which are second to the program's career leader Taylor Thurman (137). She also remains tied for sixth in career doubles (28), 14 back of the career leader Lauren Stover (42), and needs 10 more walks to become the career leader.

Sophomore pitcher Cecilia Lopez (2-3), though not meeting the minimums games played to qualify, would rank second in NCAA Division II in walks allowed per seven innings (0.24) as she has issued just seven free passes in 29.0 innings pitched. She remains within the PacWest's top 10 in earned run average (2.41).

A TO Z
Since its rainout with ART U at the start of March, Azusa Pacific went 9-2 before falling in three straight to UH Hilo most recently. Carrying the PacWest's batting average leader, Dani Burghardt (.452), and two of the top four with Cayla Broussard (.397), APU's pitching hasn't been quite as strong, but Racqual Espinoza (6-5) offers a team-best 3.24 ERA. Continuing an even historical matchup with a split last season, the Cougars are up slightly 9-8 in the all-time matchup with Academy of Art. 

TRITON TALK
Up to No. 11 from No. 16 on the most recent NFCA DII Top 25 Coaches Poll, UC San Diego has not has not lost two games in a row thus far in 2019, but is 4-2 in its last six games after a split with SF State followed by a doubleheader sweep of No. 4 Chico State mosty recently. The Tritons, who are slated to play Northwest Nazarene before ART U, rank second in the California Collegiate Athletic Conference in both team batting average (.311) and ERA (2.20) with Sherriah Harrington (.375, four home runs) leading the offense and Robyn Wampler (10-4, 1.63 ERA) at the forefront of the defense. Saturday will be the second meeting of UCSD and Academy of Art to date after the Tritons won the first matchup 4-2 in last year's Desert Stinger Tournament.

CENTRAL LOCATION
Receiving a vote in the NFCA DII Top 25 Coaches Poll each of the past two weeks, Central Washington rattled off 10 straight wins before a pair of losses to Concordia (Ore.) most recently. The Wildcats, who will play Stanislaus State (Mar. 27) and No. 5 Concordia (Calif.) (Mar. 28) before starting the Tournament of Champions against ART U, rank second in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in batting average (.337) as well as third in RBIs (138) with Savannah Egbert (.405) and Lexie Strasser (8-3, 3.02 ERA) handling most of the work in the pitcher's circle. The Knights ended last year's Desert Stinger with a 7-0 win over CWU to bring the historical matchup to 6-5 Wildcats.

TAMING THE B-EAST BAY
After exiting this year's Dixie State Courtyard Classic 2-3, Cal State East Bay lost 17 of its next 18 games, but bounced back with three victories in four contests at Humboldt State. The Pioneers, who face Western Oregon and UH Hilo prior to ART U, have struggled with their pitching rotation (Abby Greer's 5.91 ERA is the lowest on the team), but rank second in the CCAA in home runs thanks in large part to Sarah Fukushima who has accounted for four long balls while hitting a team-best .384. A sweep of CSUEB last season brought Academy of Art closer in a historical matchup that now favors the Pioneers 9-5.

CAVALIER CLASH
A Concordia team that the Urban Knights are less familiar with, Concordia (Ore.) has had a relatively even season thus far, coming back with a four-game win streak and current stretch of five straight victories after starting 2-8. The Cavaliers, who will play doubleheaders versus Holy Names (Mar. 27) and Notre Dame de Namur (Mar. 28) as well as Hawaii Pacific and Humboldt State before their matchup with ART U, rank third in ERA in the GNAC (3.77) led by Sally Bowles (5-6, 3.37) while Ali Steen's .350 batting average and four homers pace an offense with seven hitters at .300 or higher. The Saturday pairing will be the first ever between CU and Academy of Art.

THE STATE OF BILLINGS
After going 2-1 in its own Desert Stinger Tournament, Montana State Billings won three of its next four, but then fell in 10 of its next 11 games. The Yellowjackets will meet Western Oregon (Mar. 28) then Humboldt State, Cal State San Marcos, Cal State San Bernardino, and No. 13 Chico State all before the Knights on Sunday. Just one MSUB hitter, Rylan Austin (.308), is above the .300 batting average threshold and the Yellowjackets' top hurler is Alyssa Etheridge (3-4, 3.90 ERA). After defeating ART U in extra innings at the start of last season, Montana State Billings is now up 3-2 in the historical matchup.

LATE GAME DRAMA SWINGS HAWKS' WAY VERSUS ACADEMY OF ART
In two games that followed oddly similar progressions, Holy Names edged Academy of Art softball with a pair of 6-5 walk off wins at Saint Mary's Cottrell Field on Mar. 23. The Urban Knights struck first in both Pacific West Conference contests and even plated two runs in each game's respective seventh inning, but the Hawks ended up having the final word on both occasions, sweeping the doubleheader.

LOOKING AHEAD
Less than a week after the conclusion of the Tournament of Champions, ART U will travel to Hawaii for the first time since 2016 for a total of 12 games against Chaminade (Apr. 6-7), Hawaii Pacific (Apr. 9-10), and UH Hilo (Apr. 12-13).