KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii – Playing its 11th and 12th consecutive game in Hawaii, Academy of Art softball was happy to end on a winning note. The Urban Knights, bouncing back from a 5-1 loss in Saturday's first contest at Kealakehe High School, unleashed their offense to the tune of nine runs on nine hits with a pair of two-run homers mixed into a 9-0 victory over six innings conclude ART U's Hawaii roadtrip.
GAME 1 – UH Hilo 5, ART U 1
Starting roughly a half hour after a high school game ran late on the same field, the Vulcans led off the bottom of the first inning with a solo home run, but junior pitcher Hannah Rose Blake (5-10) proceeded to strike out the next three batters thereafter. Trouble would mount in the third when four walks and a hit batter led to a 3-0 deficit and UH Hilo then tacked on single runs in the fifth and sixth for a 5-0 lead.
Academy of Art had a prime scoring chance come in the sixth when junior outfielder
Gabi Hirsch and junior utility
Dominique Seva'aetasi both singled and stole bases, but a double play on the part of the Vulcans ended the opportunity. In the seventh, after freshman utility
Nikki West led off with a single and was quickly to third on a wild pitch, senior infielder
Brenna Youngquist drew her 73rd career walk to break the program record and keep the potential comeback alive. The Knights would get one run after luring a throw to second on a steal, but the Vulcans recorded the final two outs for a 5-1 win.
GAME 2 – ART U 9, UH Hilo 0 (6)
Sophomore pitcher
Cecilia Lopez (8-5) was very strong out of the gate, allowing isolated hits in each of the first two innings before retiring the Vulcans in order in the third. Academy of Art had not been able to get that decisive hit to that point, but that changed in the fourth when Younquist worked the count full then blasted a two-run homer for a 2-0 lead.
The fifth inning was ART U's highlight of the series as a two-out walks to Seva'aetasi and sophomore catcher
Lauryn Henderson contributed to a bases loaded situation for Youngquist who delivered one on a single. On the very next pitch, senior utility
Katie Tablada plated two more with a single and, two batters later, sophomore catcher
Alyssa Brundage stepped in with the bases loaded once again. She proceeded to send the sixth pitch she saw back up the middle, bringing in another two runs for a 7-0 advantage when the dust had settled.
"The team really just stopped thinking so much and let their bats fly," said head coach
Alex Gomez. "They fed off of each other and let the rally do its work - all with two outs. I was super proud of their ability to produce in those high intensity situations."
Lopez needed just six pitches to get out of the last of the fifth and this time it was Henderson's turn to demolish a 3-1 pitch to left for her own two-run homer. Already the PacWest leader in batting average (.440), she now moves into a tie for the conference's lead in home runs with seven. Lopez had no problems in the sixth, retiring her ninth consecutive batter at the tail end of a 9-0 victory in which she threw a complete 6.0 innings with no runs allowed on two hits, one walk, and one strikeout for her second shutout of 2019.
"Cece had a great outing today," said Gomez. "She didn't let the umpire control her ability to force their hitters into outs. And I think she felt the defense backing her up and making some crucial plays to help her out. She came out with a mentality today. We're super proud of her."
The split puts ART U at 14-15 on the year and 10-9 in conference. A total of five Urban Knights had two hits apiece in the doubleheader led by none other than Henderson whose 2-for-5 day saw her homer, drive in two, and score twice. Seva'aetasi and West each went 2-for-6 with a double and Seva'aetasi added two steals to give her now a team-best 14 thefts on the year. Youngquist finished 2-for-6 with a home run, three driven in, and two scored while Brundage and Tablada combined for four runs batted in on their two hits.
UH Hilo, who remains firmly second in the PacWest standings, moves to 28-15 overall and 21-9 in conference play. For the Vulcans, Isabelle Mejia was the highlight of the first game, going 1-for-2 with two RBIs at the plate and pitching a complete game victory after allowing one run on four hits plus a walk and six strikeouts.
With its Hawaii roadtrip now complete, Academy of Art will return home and remain in the Bay Area for the remainder of the regular season. The first two matchups when the Knights resume competition will be a makeup doubleheader with Concordia (Calif.) on Apr. 17 at Mission Blue Field followed by one final non-conference twinbill at SF State on Apr. 18.
"We told the team we needed to play loose this last game and try to win it for ourselves," said Gomez. "It helped us to gain some better momentum into these last two weeks at home and gave us something to celebrate at the end of a very long trip."
