BRISBANE, Calif. – Despite collectively hitting .345 to begin 2023, Academy of Art softball dropped a pair of decisions to Jessup on Wednesday out at Mission Blue Field. The first contest was a bit of a mirror match as the two teams scored in the same innings through five frames of a pitcher's duel before a late rally elevated the Warriors to a 6-3 victory. Five consecutive hits propelled the Urban Knights to a 4-0 lead in the opening inning of game two, but two three-run responses midway through enabled Jessup to collect the 8-4 win at the day's conclusion.

GAME 1 – JESSUP 6, ART U 3
Though freshman pitcher Kamielle Powell (0-1) allowed just one hit while striking out two Warriors in the first inning of her collegiate career, a sacrifice fly put the visitors on the board initially. However, freshman infielder Audrey Allen doubled on the first pitch she saw to start the inning's bottom half and junior infielder Haley Randall soon provided a run-scoring single to return the game to a tie score.

Powell proceeded to allow just one hit while executing a stretch of eight of nine batters retired over the next three innings, but scoreless frames also came for ART U until another Warriors sacrifice fly in the fifth was equalized by a pair of Knights singles in the same inning as, in just her second collegiate at-bat, freshman catcher/infielder Olivia Glover drove in sophomore infielder/pitcher Elle Edeker.

Four hits would produce three more runs for Jessup  in the sixth yet Academy of Art came back with a trio of two-out singles including one from Edeker that made it a 5-3 ballgame. The Warriors added one more score in the seventh, staying just out of reach of the tying run coming to the plate for the Knights in their final trips to the plate prior to the 6-3 final.

GAME 2 – JESSUP 8, ART U 4
Allen's single in the second game's the first inning started a hit parade that continued with singles from Randall and senior catcher/utility Cassandra Mittman before senior outfielder Bethany Mitchell doubled home two and junior infielder Katie Humphreys quickly followed by plating two more on a single. All told, Knights rattled off six hits in the frame, exiting with a 4-0 advantage.

Though game two starter senior Haley Arnold-Jolley (0-1) surrendered a run in the second, she combined with the Academy of Art defense for a clean third that needed just nine pitches. Jessup made up the 4-1 difference with three runs in the fourth then gained a 7-4 lead in the fifth. ART U faced an 8-4 deficit over the final two innings and ended up dropping the decision.

Academy of Art begins the 2023 season at 0-2 overall, getting productive afternoons from Humphreys, who drove in two with a double as part of a 4-for-5 effort, and Mitchell, who finished 3-for-6 with two RBIs of her own plus a double and a run scored. At the top of the lineup in both contests, Allen began her collegiate career batting .375 (3-for-8) with a double and a run scored.

Jessup starts the year 2-0 with a big first day from Sarah Giles who finished 4-for-7 with a home run, a double, and two runs batted in while pitcher victories went to Katie Blankenheim (1-0) and Serena Navarette (1-0) after they combined to allow three runs with three strikeouts in 9.0 innings of work.

The Urban Knights will meet their first NCAA Division II opponents this Friday, Feb. 3 when they take on Saint Martin's and No. 25 Sonoma State in Rohnert Park.