Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 BRISBANE, Calif. – Freshman
Brenna Mitchell was absolutely on fire Saturday as Academy of Art University completed a season sweep of Holy Names with a pair of victories, 2-0, 7-3. Mitchell delivered a two-hit shutout while striking out the second-most batters in program history (14) in game one, then, back-to-back rallies early in game two were cushioned by a three-run surge via some small ball in the sixth inning and the win was finished off after Mitchell's first career save.
"It feels good to get the wins today!" said head coach
Sonja Garnett. "We had a good team performance, which will certainly give us confidence going into this week."
GAME ONEHoly Names opened the game with a double, however, that would be their only runner who reached second base on the day. Mitchell struck out the final two batters of the inning and the Urban Knights promptly scored in the bottom half. After senior outfielder
Haily MacDonald walked, stole second, and eventually reached third, junior catcher
Elise Oldham brought her in on a sacrifice fly.
Mitchell was virtually untouchable thereafter, striking out two batters in each of the first four innings as well as the entire side in the fourth. To her credit, HNU's Vanessa Pulido (2-18) to just two hits through the first five innings and the ART U lead did not grow until the sixth when sophomore outfielder
Jessica West hit a one-out double, reached third on a wild pitch, then scored on an error.
The fifth inning was the only frame that did not see two Hawks hitters strike out as Mitchell finished with 14 punch-outs in a complete 7.0 innings. She moves into second all-time in program history behind Sierrah Garcia's 16 strikeouts which came against BYU-Hawaii on
Mar. 25, 2010. It is Mitchell's third career shutout and ups her record to 16-11 on the year.
"Brenna threw amazing games today!" said Garnett. "She had great command of her pitching, and maintained steady each inning. It was fun to watch!"
GAME TWOAn early advantage came for the Knights with senior infielder
Jasmine Dickenson coming through by way of a two-run single in the second inning. Although the Hawks scored their first run of the day in the third, Academy of Art doubled its run total on a pair of fielding errors.
Holy Names remained resilient against sophomore
Alexa Peters (5-10), getting a two-run double in the fifth to cut the margin to a single run, 4-3. Mitchell returned in that inning to get the final two outs and added a clean sixth to set up her squad for their rally in the sixth.
A leadoff single by graduate student catcher
Nirana Singh was backed up by sophomore outfielder
Hallie Curtis' RBI single and later senior infielder
Kamyle Glover delivered a RBI single of her own. Finally, Glover and MacDonald teamed up for a double steal and the ART U lead increased to 7-3. Mitchell notched her 16th strikeout of the day in a quiet seventh and picked up her first save of her career.
Academy of Art rises to 22-24 overall and an even 12-12 in PacWest play with the day's results. Mitchell threw a total of 9.1 shutout innings on the day, allowing just two hits and one walk in total. Peters earned the game two win after a solid 4.2 innings of work with three runs allowed. Offensively, MacDonald was 5-for-6 with a double, three steals, and three runs scored. Dickenson had two RBIs in game two while West and senior infielder
Taylor Thurman each had a pair of hits in that one. Though Thurman's reached-base streak ended at 16 games, MacDonald finds herself now with having reached in her past 15 games.
For Holy Names (6-38 overall, 3-21 PacWest), Lyveana Llayan was the only Hawk with a hit in each game as she finished 2-for-5 with a run batted in. Deni Yandell had two RBIs in her 1-for-3 performance on the day.
ART U continues its homestand with a four-game series upcoming this Tuesday and Wednesday, Apr. 14-15. Note that both day's game times have been moved up so the doubleheaders now begin at 10:00 a.m.
"All of our games from here on out are important," said Garnett. "We are prepared for BYU and we need to stay focused on our strengths."
