BRISBANE, Calif. – Continuing its offensive success, Academy of Art softball hit Dominican hard throughout Saturday's Pacific West Conference doubleheader at Mission Blue Field and walked away with a split, winning the opener 7-3 and nearly completing a comeback in an 8-7 loss in game two. The Urban Knights scored all seven of its game one runs on extra-base hits including a two-homer performance from freshman infielder Haley Randall then the ART U bats put up 13 hits in the series finale, two during a four-run seventh inning rally, but could not bring home the winning run from second base.

GAME 1 – ART U 7, DU 3
Randall opened the second inning of a scoreless opening contest with her second home run of the season, a solo shot, and that lead carried into the fourth where the Penguins capitalized on an error to score three unearned runs. The two-run margin did not last, however, as junior catcher Lauryn Henderson belted her own solo homer beyond the left field fence to start a rally in the bottom of the fourth. Junior catcher Alyssa Brundage then stepped in and brought home two more with her first double of the year to give Academy of Art a 4-3 lead.

A 10-pitch fifth sent Balke into a strong final two innings that each required just 10 pitches as well. Meanwhile, the fifth inning saw Randall become the sixth player in ART U history to homer twice in a single game when she crushed a three-run shot to left, increasing the Knights' advantage to 7-3. She joined an exclusive club that includes Genna Allen, Lauren Stover, Crista.Sykes, Jessica West, and Brenna Youngquist.

Building off her record-breaking day on Mar. 26, Balke ended up not allowing an earned run in her fourth complete game of the season, going 7.0 innings with eight hits and one walk allowed.

GAME 2 – DU 8, ART U 7
A pair of errors allowed Dominican to get on the scoreboard with two runs in the first inning, but soon head's up defense from Randall caught a runner coming home on a delayed double steal to end the second. After the Penguins went up 3-0 in the third, the dynamic duo of Henderson and Randall produced once again with a run-scoring single from the former and a sacrifice fly from the latter.

"Very proud of the way Lauryn and Randy swung the bat today," said Head Coach Nikki Gentile. "With Lauryn, she recognizes teams are not going to feed her much of anything sweet, so she's attacked those outside pitches, off-speeds, and been more aggressive on hitter's counts. Both Randy and Lo are threats to be reckoned right now."

Sophomore starting pitcher Haley Arnold-Jolley (0-2) worked a scoreless fourth, but ran into trouble in the fifth where three runs came home despite a call to Balke in relief. The gap shortened to 6-3 in the home half of the fifth when none other than Henderson and Randall teamed up for a triple followed by a run-scoring single.

Though the game appeared to be out of reach when a two-run homer from Dominican made it an 8-3 contest, ART U pressed the issue with their backs against the wall in the seventh. A leadoff single from junior utility Alyssa Rasmussen led into a double from Henderson and Randall's subsequent third run batted in. Working the count full with the bases loaded thereafter, freshman outfielder Maddie Sticka put the ball into play for an error that allowed a run to score. Then it was freshman infielder Cassidy Kachnik who posted her first collegiate RBI on a single to left before the bases were once again full of Knights in an 8-7 ballgame. Though the final groundout nearly popped out of the second baseman's glove, the end result was a victory for the Penguins, but not without a drama-filled final frame.

"Our bottom of the seventh efforts to put a four spot up were exciting and I'm happy to see some freshman stepped up like Cassidy and Maddie," Gentile said. "We didn't lay down and I appreciate that. I just wish we had that sense of urgency sooner."

The day's results even Academy of Art's record at 6-6 both overall and in PacWest play while the three homers put ART U second in the conference with 10 on the year. Randall finished 4-for-7 with two of those long balls and seven RBIs. Over the course of the doubleheader, Henderson hit for the cycle with a 6-for-8 combined performance that included a double, triple, and home run plus two RBIs. Sophomore outfielder Bethany Mitchell went 5-for-8 with her team-best fifth double and a stolen base while Brundage turned in a 1-for-2 effort in game one with a double and two RBIs.

"Winning is a lot more fun than losing," Gentile said. "Things are definitely coming together, we just need to continue playing our game."

Dominican, now 8-8 overall and 7-5 in conference games, got its biggest offensive production from Alyssa Ramirez who went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs in the second game. One of four game one pitchers, Rosa Leguria (1-3) was charged with the loss, allowing one run on one hit in 0.2 relief innings while Alyssa Waltman (2-0) collected the complete game victory with three earned runs allowed on 13 hits through 7.0 innings in the finale.

In a departure from PacWest play, the Urban Knights next host Northwest Nazarene for a noon doubleheader on Apr. 7.