BRISBANE, Calif. – Academy of Art University softball refused to back down from the challenge of hosting No. 13 Humboldt State at Mission Blue Field on Thursday.
In the Urban Knights' 2016 debut, sophomore pitcher
Brenna Mitchell (0-1) allowed just a single run in an impressive complete game performance despite the 1-0 loss. Then junior hurler
Hunter Allen (0-0) kept ART U close before the home team bounced back from an early deficit and eventually tied the game on clutch hit by freshman infielder
Brenna Youngquist in the bottom of the seventh. There the 6-6 score would stand as a drop-dead time of 4 p.m. prevented a final decision.
GAME ONE
After retiring the first seven batters she faced, Mitchell seemed unfazed by Opening Day jitters while her counterpart, Katie Obbema (1-0) allowed Knights to reach scoring position in each of the first two innings of game one. Junior
Jessica West had Academy of Art's first hit of the season with a single in the first and, four pitches into the second inning, ART U threatened with the bases loaded and no outs after Mitchell was hit by a pitch, freshman utility
Adrianna Rupright legged out a bunt single, and junior outfielder
Hallie Curtis reached on an error. The end result, however, was still a scoreless game through the third.
In the fourth, Humboldt State would convert a leadoff single into a suicide squeeze play that ended up being the difference in the game. Obbema and the Lumberjacks limited the Knights to two hits through the final three innings and came away 1-0 winners in the end.
GAME TWOHSU would take a lead early in the second part of Thursday's doubleheader, scoring five times in the first inning with a run-scoring triple and two-run double among the five hits. Allen, who redshirted last year, emerged from the bullpen to help ART U get back into a rhythm and proceeded to retire 12 consecutive batters in her first official Academy of Art contest.
Once again, Humboldt State countered with Madison Williams (0-0) who put away eight straight Knights hitters before running into trouble in the fourth when Youngquist singled and soon gave ART U two runners in scoring position. Though Academy of Art did not score on that occasion, it provided life for the home team who plated four in the fifth. A Curtis double started things off (she would later score on a wild pitch) then back-to-back infield errors enabled three more to come in and the ballgame was hanging in the balance.
Mitchell relieved Allen in the seventh and needed just five pitches to set up the Knights' final chance. In addition to HSU miscues, senior catcher
Elise Oldham would deliver a clutch single to set the table for Youngquist who tied the game on a single to right center.
One more out and the game moved into extra innings where the international tiebreaker rule would be employed as the teams had originally agreed to a drop-dead time of 4 p.m. due to Humboldt State's flight to Utah. With a runner placed at second to start the inning, HSU went right to work with a bunt and then had the bases loaded following a walk. Mitchell proceeded to strike out the next batter and Youngquist made a spectacular diving catch in foul territory before the game had to be called a 6-6 tie.
Now 0-1-1 on the year, ART U had both West (2-for-6) and Youngquist (3-for-7) notch hits in each game while Mitchell and Allen combined to throw 13.1 innings with just two runs allowed and nine strikeouts between the two games.
HSU exits its first series 1-0-1 and was led by Sydney Roberts' 3-for-5 day as well as Illa Haley's two RBIs in game two.
Academy of Art next faces another CCAA foe in Chico State this Saturday, Feb. 6. First pitch of the doubleheader is set for noon.
