TURLOCK, Calif. – Academy of Art softball stayed right with No. 14 Western Washington for much of the Urban Knights' opening contest in the Tournament of Champions, but the Vikings rallied late for a 7-0 victory then Chico State took an early advantage and ran with it to a 9-1 win at Pedretti Park on Friday.

GAME 1 - #14 WWU 7, ART U 0
Though a walk drawn by junior utility Alexis Folks gave way to the matchup's first hit off the bat of senior infielder Katie Humphreys, Academy of Art would not be the first side to score as the Vikings used three hits to produce two runs in the second inning.

As freshman pitcher Kayla Vaughan (3-7) worked through long at-bats from the opposition, she highlighted the performance by striking out the side in the fourth to give her eight punchouts to that point. She added two more in the fifth on either side of WWU scoring an unearned run then incredibly sat down another pair in the sixth to giver her 12 on the day, tying her for the fourth-most in ART U history.

Between sixth and seventh inning rallies from Western Washington, the Knights had back-to-back singles come from Folks and senior outfielder Cailee Grayhorse-Pupecki, but the Vikings were able to dodge the threat and win 7-0.

GAME 2 – CHICO 9, ART U 1 (5)
Walks to both Folks and Grayhorse-Pupecki set the Knights up early in their second contest of the day yet it was primarily five free passes in the bottom of the first that allowed the Wildcats to open with a 4-0 advantage. After Vaughan's single in the second, she would quickly come around to score on another infield error, making the margin just three runs, but that difference returned to four in the third then eight in the fourth before the game ended with Chico State on top.

The Urban Knights end the day 7-18 overall after Grayhorse-Pupecki finished 2-for-5 with a hit in each contest while Vaughan ended the second game 1-for-2 with a run scored.

Western Washington improved to 18-4 on the year with the victory as Emma Andrewjeski and McKenna Crum each went 1-for-3 with two RBIs apiece and Alli Kimball (6-2) notched the complete game shutout on three hits plus one walk and two strikeouts.

Now 6-14 overall, Chico State had Ashley Rocha and Brianna Swihart combined for five RBIs and four runs scored in a 3-for-4 performance to support Amelie Valdez (4-9) in her win with one run allowed on three hits and two walks plus five strikeouts in 5.0 innings of work.

Competing in the later window on Saturday, Academy of Art matches up with Cal State San Bernardino (2 p.m.) and Cal State Dominguez Hills (7 p.m.) to continue the Tournament of Champions.