Sonja Garnett began as Academy of Art University Softball head coach in the summer of 2014. She was named
senior woman administrator in December 2017.
Driven to significantly surpass the program wins record by a unifying theme known as "On The 30," ART U's 2018 highlights included two double-digit win streaks, victories over three ranked opponents (
No. 15 CSUMB,
No. 17 CUI,
No. 13 SSU), the Urban Knights' first NCAA Tournament appearance,
six All-Pacific West Conference Team honorees, and their
first All-American in freshman pitcher Brooke Larsen. Academy of Art broke the program wins record by 11 with a 40-18 campaign in addition to several other single-season records including runs (266), hits (457), doubles (86), runs batted in (240), walks (163), earned run average (1.97), shutouts (16), innings pitched (387.0), and batting average against (.227). Garnett was named
PacWest Coach of the Year and collected her
milestone 100th victory at ART U along the way.
An influx of youth energized Academy of Art University softball throughout its 2017 season. Highlights from a squad that would produce the most
All-PacWest Team honorees in program history included the best collective single-season batting average (.315), six doubleheader sweeps, ART U's first two no-hitters against NCAA Division II opponents, and the Urban Knights' fourth time posting at least 25 victories. The team, who went 25-25 overall, collected a total of five PacWest weekly awards and put six players on the All-PacWest Team including freshman pitcher Hannah Rose Balke who set the program's single-season wins record (21) and tossed no-hitters against Notre Dame de Namur (
Mar. 10) and versus Holy Names (
Apr. 9).
In 2016, Garnett guided the Urban Knights through one of the most challenging schedules the program has seen to a 17-34-1 overall record and 13-19 in the PacWest. ART U won six of its first seven conference games and later had one of its biggest highlights - breaking the program's home runs record in an
upset of No. 16 California Baptist, the highest ranked team faced since 2011. At the season's end, the Knights collected two
All-PacWest Team honors with Jessica West (First Team) and Brenna Mitchell (Third Team), a program record four
DII Easton/NFCA Scholar-Athlete awards, and 10
Academic All-PacWest selections.
Garnett's first year at the helm of Academy of Art in 2015 saw the Urban Knights finish with their best record (28-26) since 2011 with a host of records broken. Among the various team milestones were the most doubles, total bases, and highest fielding percentage in program history. ART U also tied its record for athletes receiving All-PacWest honors including senior Haily MacDonald on the
All-PacWest First Team (along with
Capital One Academic All-District Team and
Daktronics All-West Region honors), Samantha Klune (
Second Team), Brenna Mitchell (
Third Team), and Nirana Singh (
Third Team).
One of the top pitchers in the history of the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA), Garnett spent two seasons as an assistant coach for Cal State Monterey Bay, helping the program win the CCAA Championship (third to date) and then go on to reach NCAA Super Regionals for the first time ever in 2014. That year, CSUMB produced the most wins in program history (48) and carried three Daktronics All-Americans. When all was said and done, the Otters were ranked #11 nationally on the final National Fastpitch Coaches Association NCAA DII Top 25 poll.
Garnett got her start as an assistant at her alma mater, San Francisco State, for the 2007 season. Garnett led the Gators to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. SFSU won the 2005 West Regional and went on to a fifth place finish at the NCAA Division II World Series that season. She also served as an assistant coach at Whittier College in 2011.
Owner of a stellar playing career as a SF State Gator herself, Garnett earned both NFCA All-America honors and was CCAA Pitcher of the Year on three occasions. Garnett ended her collegiate career holding the seven major pitching marks in the SFSU record books: wins (103), saves (11), ERA (0.96), strikeouts (609), appearances (188), complete games (127) and innings pitched (1,068.2). She still ranks among the NCAA leaders in appearances (5th), innings pitched (6th), saves (16th), starts (18th) and wins (22nd).
In the classroom, Garnet twice captured
ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VIII honors while earning her bachelor's in liberal studies at San Francisco State. She went on to earn her master's in kinesiology with an emphasis in sports management from Long Beach State, graduating with a 4.0 grade point average and taking the Outstanding Capstone Award for her final project.
After finishing her collegiate career, she played six seasons of professional softball in Australia, Germany and Italy, serving as both a coach and pitcher in each of her stops. While playing in Western Australia, she led the Moreley Eagles to their first state title. She also played three seasons in Germany, leading the Mannheim Tornados to a pair of national titles.
Head Coach, ART U
2014 - present
| Year |
Overall (Pct.) |
PacWest (Place) |
| 2018 |
40-18 (.690) |
22-10 (4th) |
| 2017 |
25-25 (.500) |
17-15 (8th) |
| 2016 |
17-34-1 (.337) |
13-19 (7th) |
| 2015 |
28-26 (.519) |
18-14 (4th) |
| Totals |
110-103-1 (.516) |
70-58 (.547) |
