Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 | Box Score 3 | Box Score 4 This team knows how to play as a team and does the things that needs to be done. While it doesn't always equal wins, it will never be for lack of effort or teamwork. A four-game series against Academy of Art brought a little bit of everything out of the Sharks team and players.
 
HPU won three of four and saw a nail biter, a shutout, a runaway win, and then a heartbreaking loss in extra innings. 
 
Game one was a grind-it-out 5-4 win for HPU and pitcher Taylor Thompson (4-5). Fighting through back tightness all game, Taylor (15) threw 134 pitches, striking out 4, and getting down on a ground ball to make the play in the seventh inning when her team needed a crucial out. She did all this because her team needed her in this moment and they needed this win. Never mind the fact that she was stretching her back out between innings and couldn't bend over without pain; that wasn't going to stop her on this day. She had big-time bats backing her up to get the runs that were needed too. First baseman, Tiari Hernandez (17) went 2-2 with two runs, a walk, and a stolen base doing a little bit of everything to help the team and senior center fielder, Hoku Ching (8) broke a 3-3 tie in the sixth with a 2 RBI triple speeding around the bases.
 
Game two was a different kind of story about a pitcher. Layla Molina (4) is coming into her own as she got her first win of the season in the form of a complete game shutout. She pitched marvelously in the 4-0 win getting it done in less than 100 pitches and only walking one. Shortstop Jewel Larson (10), Hoku, and "Ari" Hernandez were again the usual suspects on offense with Jewel having a two RBI double to deep left center field as the big hit of the game. Coach Jarnett Lono made crucial and timely decisions in the game as well. In the fifth inning, the Knights loaded the bases after some defensive miscues and Coach inserted second baseman Taimane Panganoran (18) as a defensive replacement. She rewarded her coach and team with recording an out almost immediately to get out of the jam that inning and three putouts through the rest of the game to help preserve the shutout.
 
The third game was a story of the pitcher and batter known as Gianna Kerschbaum (12). After giving up an unearned run in the first, Gia took care of that in the bottom of the inning with an RBI double to tie it and then scored the go ahead run. There was no turning back after that as she only gave up one more run the rest of the way and the Sharks cruised to the 8-2 win. Third baseman Marissa Marshall (7) had a 2-2, three RBI game and Ari was the star at the end of this show as she put one over the left field fence for a three-run home run to essentially seal the win.
 
The last game of the four-game series felt like a lost opportunity that slipped away at the end. A back-and-forth game became tied in the sixth on another Gia double that plated two. It seemed like every sharp hit off the bat of the Sharks after that lined straight to an awaiting fielder and the Knights' hits found the gaps. The scheduled seven-inning game went to nine and the two pitchers that turned in spectacular performances the day before, Layla and Taylor, may have just run out of steam. Layla pitched into the 8^th and Taylor came on in relief, but they only had some much left to give. A few walks and untimely errors in the field gave the opportunity for the Knights to score two in the top of the ninth and steal the win.
 
Three out of four ain't bad though! This series was what the Sharks needed to get back on track and get confidence as the hit the road for a 14-game PacWest stretch before returning home to close out the regular season and Howard A. Okita Field on April 27^th against Chaminade.