CHICO, Calif. – Academy of Art University softball headed out on the road for the first time Saturday and came away with its first win as part of a split with Chico State at University Field. Scoreless through the first five innings, game one saw the Wildcats take a 2-0 lead in the sixth before Academy of Art countered with three in the seventh for a 3-2 victory. The home team got ahead early in game two and the end result was a 14-1 Chico State win in five innings.

"I am really proud of our first three games this season and I'm glad we had the opportunity to learn from a tough game four against Chico," said head coach Sonja Garnett. "We are a young team with plenty of depth and we will have some growing pains. We have proven to ourselves we can compete at a high level. The challenge will now be to maintain that level and remain committed to our process."

GAME ONE
Sophomore pitcher Brenna Mitchell (1-1) came out picking up right where she left off against No. 13 Humboldt State. She retired the first eight batters she faced and allowed just two hits through five clean innings to start the game. However, much like the season opener versus the Jacks, Mitchell's opposing starter Haley Gilham (0-1) surrendered just two hits in her first six innings.

In the bottom of the sixth, Chico State used a pinch-hit single by Megan Bowley to score the first run of the game then added another on an infield error. Suddenly given just one final chance, Academy of Art answered the call in the top of the seventh. After a leadoff bunt single by junior outfielder Jessica West and a single from freshman infielder Brenna Youngquist, the Knights scored once on an infield error and followed that with a clutch shot from freshman infielder Katie Tablada that scored two more.

With her team now up 3-2, Mitchell returned for the seventh inning where she induced two fly outs despite a Chico State runner in scoring position and sealed ART U's first victory of the year with a complete game performance. She allowed just one unearned run on five hits with one walk and one strikeout.

"I was really proud of our comeback in game one," said Garnett. "Jessica West was able to beat one out to first to start the inning and having Katie Tablada hit in the go-ahead run in her first offensive game was huge. The team maintained confidence and was solid defensively behind another great outing from Brenna Mitchell."

GAME TWO
The Wildcats wasted little time in responding to the home loss in their season opener as Chico State scored three times in the first inning. Moments later, Youngquist had the most memorable at-bat of her young career, crushing a solo home run to start the second inning. The Urban Knights drew two more walks in the inning, but could not close the gap further than 3-1.

In the second inning, Chico State's offense caught fire. Seven hits including a three-run home homer led to eight runs and soon the margin was 10 runs. The Wildcats added three more in the fourth and went on to win 14-1 in the fifth via the run-rule.

The Urban Knights are now 1-2-1 overall this year. Youngquist pushed her hit streak to four games with hits in both contests on Saturday while Mitchell exits the first week of the year with a 2.52 earned run average through a team-high 16.2 innings pitched.

After Chico State's first action of the 2016 season, the Wildcats are 1-1 overall. Cyrena Taylor finished 4-for-7 with three RBIs on the day while Cailin Garmon and Melanie Abzun each drove in three with home runs apiece.

"We have a lot more season left so we just have to focus on getting our hits stacked together and keeping our pitching reliable going into next weekend," said Garnett.

ART U looks ahead to back-to-back noon doubleheaders in the coming week with Central Washington (Feb. 12) and Northwest Nazarene (Feb. 13) both visiting Mission Blue Field.