BRISBANE, Calif. – The Chaminade University softball team returned to Pacific West Conference action Tuesday, dropping both games to Academy of Art at Mission Blue Field.
The Silverswords lost the first game in a 3-0 pitchers' duel then couldn't hang on to a lead in the 4-2 loss in the nightcap.
Chaminade fell to 9-23 overall and 5-15 in the PacWest. The Urban Knights improved to 25-11 and 8-5.
Game 1
The matchup featured two of the PacWest's weekly honorees with Chaminade's
Jackie Najera (Santa Ana, Calif./Segerstrom), the Freshman of the Week, facing ART U's Brooke Larsen, the conference Player of the Week.
Najera won the first battle between the two freshmen, ripping a single off Larsen to lead off the game, extending her hit streak to 14 games. However Larsen won the next two meetings, getting Najera to ground out to the left side of the infield twice.
The 'Swords were only able to muster one more hit off Larsen, a second-inning single by
Kayla Henmi (Torrance, Calif./South), although Larsen walked four and hit another.
Chaminade managed to get two runners in scoring position but couldn't get them home.
Madelyn Stockslager (Torrance, Calif./South) fell to 6-9, although she pitched effectively, scattering six hits with four strikeouts. Two of the three runs were earned including a homer in the fourth, the first she's allowed this year.
Larson continued her dominant form in tossing the complete-game shutout, extending her scoreless streak to 34 2/3 innings, improving to 15-2.
Game 2
After two scoreless frames, 'Swords starter
Devan Dickson (Avondale, Ariz./Westview) helped her own cause, ripping a two-run double to left center to put them up 2-0.
But the Urban Knights responded in the next half-inning when Gracie Sotomayer blistered a base hit past first baseman
Kayla Russell (Honolulu/Kaiser) but right fielder
Maureen Hutchinson (Curtisville, Pa./Deer Lake) misplayed the ball which got past her, scoring the tying runs and putting Sotomayer to third. Dickson then uncorked a pitch to the backstop where Sotomayer attempted to score but catcher
Kiana Ulufale (Ewa Beach, Hawai'i/Campbell) recovered and fired a perfect strike to Dickson covering the plate to prevent the run from scoring and also ending the inning.
ART U then took the lead in the fourth when Brenna Youngquist, who homered in Game 1, blasted the go-ahead two-run home run to put them up 4-2.
In the top of the seventh, Najera who was 0-for-1 with two walks, pushed her hitting streak to 15 when she lashed a double off the base of the centerfield fence, which brought the tying run to the plate. However Larsen was summoned from the bullpen and promptly retired the next three 'Swords to preserve the win.
Dickson scattered 10 hits while two of the four runs she allowed were earned, falling to 3-11. She also had two hits, her first multi-hit game in over a month.
Hannah Rose Balke tossed three innings of relief to pick up the win, improving to 3-2 while Larsen got her second save of the year.
The Silverswords and Urban Knights wrap up their four-game series Wednesday at Mission Blue Field.
