BRISBANE, Calif. – Of the 23 hits Academy of Art softball registered on Saturday, five dramatically cleared the fence as the Urban Knights scored 17 times to sweep a Pacific West Conference doubleheader with Holy Names. After a two-run homer by junior catcher Lauryn Henderson helped ART U outlast the Hawks 7-6 in game one, she struck once more in the ninth inning of the series finale, cranking another two-run shot to prompt a walk-off celebration.

"Today was the first time our team has full heartedly showed up and played our game," said Head Coach Nikki Gentile. "They got a taste of success and what we can do when we put it all together. More to come."

GAME 1 – ART U 7, HNU 6
The opening contest did not stay scoreless for long as freshman infielder Haley Randall offered a sign of things to come when she crushed a 1-0 pitch beyond left center for her team's first home run of the season in the second inning. Academy of Art built upon that margin with a run-scoring double from sophomore outfielder Bethany Mitchell as part of a two-run third.

In the fourth, the Knights pushed their lead to 5-0 on the first collegiate run batted in for freshman outfielder Maddie Sticka and a sacrifice fly from Mitchell. Junior pitcher Cecilia Lopez (1-1) had kept Holy Names off the scoreboard through her first 4.0 innings in the circle and the bullpen was called upon, but after the Hawks plated two in the sixth, Lopez once again stepped in to stunt the rally.

Bringing home two runs that would prove critical, Henderson launched her first home run of the year, a two-run blast to left center, in the sixth before ART U looked to sign off on a 7-2 victory. HNU's last chance in the seventh was nearly a complete comeback as the visitors' own two-run homer highlighted a four-run push that wound up staved off by the third strikeout from Lopez.

GAME 2 – ART U 10, HNU 8 (9)
Angling for the series win, Holy Names quickly went up 4-0 in the first inning of the four-part finale, but the long ball once again ignited the Urban Knights as graduate student infielder Chelsea Sligh propelled a 1-2 pitch right over the center field fence for a two-run homer that halved the HNU advantage in the second.

Academy of Art continued to fight, matching the Hawks' solo homer with a run-scoring single from graduate student outfielder Gabi Hirsch in the fourth before tying things up at 6-6 in the fifth. After Mitchell led off the frame with the first home run of her career, she found herself on deck by the inning's end with Lopez providing a sacrifice fly and another run coming in on an error.

Moving into the late innings, Holy Names took another lead in the sixth, going up 8-6, but three consecutive doubles to right center by Randall, Lopez, and Sligh had the teams suddenly tied yet again. Despite each putting runners on in the seventh, neither side scored and extra innings were needed. Senior pitcher Hannah Rose Balke (2-3) continued to get outs even though she eventually moved north of 180 pitches on the day after tying her career-high with 9.0 innings pitched (second-most in ART U single-game history). She struck out her fifth batter of the game in the ninth and stranded a runner at third as she looked to keep her bid to tie the program's career wins record (39) alive.

"Hannah is a workhorse and always wants the ball in those pressure moments," Gentile said. "Throwing as much as she did truly speaks to her conditioning and how in shape she is as she didn't lose velocity throughout those nine innings."

Still locked at 8-8 moving into the bottom of the ninth, Academy of Art got a runner on after pinch-hitting freshman pitcher/infielder Katie Humphreys was hit by a pitch. In a highly clutch situation with two outs, Henderson stepped in and promptly crushed a 1-0 pitch over the fence in right center, rounding third to the excited screams of her teammates and touching home plate as her two-run blast gave ART U the 10-8 victory along with the day's sweep.

"It was a really calm feeling; I sat back and trusted myself to keep the energy that my teammates were supplying and dialed in; and boy did it pay off," Henderson said. "Running around the bases was so exciting after all that resilience shown in the game. We fought hard and we deserved every hit and run we earned and that was a big shift for our team today. It was a team win and the sweep shows the glimmer of our team's will to fight till the end."

Rising to 3-5 both overall and in PacWest play, the Knights were led by the aforementioned two-homer day for Henderson who finished 4-for-8 with two doubles, four RBIs, and three runs scored. Sligh was 4-for-4 with three RBIs and her homer in game two while Mitchell finished the twinbill with three RBIs, a double, and a homer as well. Making up the quartet of long balls was that of Randall who added a double and one RBI too.

"The team hits a lot of home runs at practice so today was the first day we found the perfect timing off opposing pitching and it definitely was exciting to see our bats come alive with four different players going yard," Gentile said.

Lopez, who earned the win in game one by way of one earned run allowed in 6.0 innings of work plus three strikeouts, turned around and succeeded with the bat in the second contest where she went 3-for-4 with two RBIs, a double, and two runs scored.

Holy Names leaves the series with ART U sporting an identical 3-5 overall and conference record after being led by Lyndsey Widner's 5-for-8 day which included a home run and two RBIs. The Knights got revenge against Sydney Davis (1-1), tagging her for eight runs across a combined 8.1 innings in the doubleheader while Ela Villanueva (1-0) surrendered eight runs on 13 hits in 5.2 innings of her game two start.

Academy of Art will rematch Dominican in its next four-game series beginning in San Rafael on Friday, Mar. 26.