BRISBANE, Calif. – Following an emotional Senior Day ceremony, Academy of Art softball got contributions from all four of its honorees, outfielder Gabi Hirsch, infielder Chelsea Sligh, and pitchers Hannah Rose Balke and Cecilia Lopez, throughout what ended as a doubleheader split hosting Pacific West Conference Northern California rival Holy Names. The Hawks used a pair of three-run rallies to pull away from ART U in the opening contest 8-1, but the Urban Knights came right back with a trio of rallies to power a shortened 8-0 victory in the series and regular season finale.

GAME 1 – HNU 8, ART U 1
Working through a two-hour delay at the start of the third game of this series, both Balke (8-8) and her counterpart Kelsey Volkmar (2-5) retired their respective sides in order in the first inning. Back-to-back hits then produced Holy Names' first run of the game in the second and Academy of Art looked to rally with two hits in the third, but a hard-hit ball wound up leading to an inning-ending double play.

Four hits including a solo homer came for HNU in the fourth and in an unfortunate mirror of the third inning, a double play again spoiled the Knights' scoring threat in the bottom half of that frame. A three-run shot was added in the sixth and one more came in the seventh before ART U started its comeback attempt. After Lopez roped a leadoff double, sophomore catcher/utility Cassandra Mittman doubled home her team's first run of the game, but an untimely end to the ballgame ensued shortly thereafter as the Hawks prevailed 8-1.

GAME 2 – ART U 8, HNU 0 (5)
Three Holy Names batters stepped in and all three were retired by Lopez (5-3) to start the day's finale before Academy of Art struck first. Freshman outfielder Cailee Grayhorse-Pupecki's second triple of the season, which came with one out in the opening inning, was soon converted to the team's first run on a groundout by freshman infielder Haley Randall. Immediately after, Sligh sent a double into the left center gap and ART U was up 2-0.

Lopez did not allow a hit until the third inning when two singles helped Holy Names eventually load the bases, but a double play turned by junior utility Neenah Pangilinan stopped the threat. The bottom of the inning was highlighted by a pair of big swings as Sligh crushed her third homer of the season, a two-run blast, on the first pitch she saw before junior catcher Alyssa Brundage plated two with her double to left.

Now supported by a 6-0 lead, Lopez confidently shut down the HNU offense in order in the fourth then again in the fifth. She would not need to take the pitcher's circle again as Balke's first hit of the year and a single from Hirsch set the stage for a game-ending single by Grayhorse-Pupecki which triggered the run-rule in a five-inning 8-0 triumph for Academy of Art. The seventh shutout of Lopez's career had her allow just two hits with one walk in 5.0 innings of work.

The Urban Knights complete their 2021 regular season at 15-13 overall and 14-10 in PacWest play. Mittman highlighted game one with a 3-for-3 performance that included a double and one run batted in while Sligh had her own 3-for-3 effort in game two, homering and doubling while driving in three. Pairs of RBIs in game two came for Grayhorse-Pupecki (2-for-4) and Brundage (1-for-3). Henderson extended her reached base streak to 26 games with hits in each contest as part of a 2-for-5 day.

Holy Names finishes its season at 7-17 both overall and in conference action. Kimberlee Walston's double and home run came as part of her 3-for-4, three-RBI game one performance which was won by Volkmar after her one run allowed on nine hits and three strikeouts in a complete 7.0 innings pitched. Chailey Stewart (0-5) took the game two loss with six runs allowed on six hits in 2.2 innings.

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