BRISBANE, Calif. (Feb. 12) – The Central Washington University softball team swept the Academy of Art (1-4-1) by scores of 4-0 and 5-2 to improve to 6-1 on the season.
 
The pitching duo of Kiana Wood and Brielle Copodonna highlighted a productive day for the Wildcats as the hurlers combined to give up just one earned run with seven strikeouts and no walks.

"I'm really excited for our pitchers and proud of the way they competed today," CWU Head Coach Mike Larabee said.  "They kept the ball out of the white and hit their spots all around the plate.  Both Kiana and Brielle did were excellent today and when you combine that with excellent defense it usually results in a positive outcome."
 
Wood (4-0) threw a gem for the Wildcats in the opener earning the complete game shutout, allowing just three hits, with no walks and five strikeouts.
 
Celine Fowler went 2 for 3 at the plate with a run scored and Austin Wilkerson went 1 for 4 with the Wildcats only RBI in the contest on a near homerun in the fifth inning that scored Sammy Morris.
 
After scoring once in the first inning on a wild pitch, the Wildcats tacked on three more in the fifth inning, racking up three hits, and took advantage of two Urban Knight errors to lead to the 4-0 advantage.
 
Brielle Copodonna started in the circle for the Wildcats in the nightcap and held Academy of Art hitless until the third inning where they pieced together a couple of safeties, but were unable to score.
 
Central Washington scored twice in the top of the fourth inning, first on a single by Fowler that plated Hamada, and later on a sacrifice fly by Morris that scored Fowler.
 
Academy of Art tied the game up in the bottom of the sixth inning off of three hits and one Wildcat error, leveling the score at 2-2. 

"I thought we wnet on cruise control and left a lot of scoring opportunities on the basepaths," Larabee said of his offense.  "I was very impressed at the way we fought back after they tied the game though.  We preach to our players to always respond when a team scores on us and that is exactly what they did."
 
The Wildcats answered right back in the top half of the seventh as Taylor Ferleman tripled to left field, driving in a run and two batters latter Wilkerson played returned the favor, plating Ferleman on a shallow pop fly.  Hamada collected her second hit of the contest two batters later, scoring Kailyn Campbell from second base to give the Wildcats the final 5-2 lead.
 
Wood pitched the final inning and a third to record her second win of the day and her fourth of the season.
 
Copodonna pitched the first 5 2/3 innings giving up five hits and one earned run while striking out one Urban Knight.
 
Five different Wildcats drove in a run in the nightcap, including Hamada and Ferleman who each collected two hits.
 
On the day Central Washington was a perfect 7 for 7 in stolen base attempts, with Remy Bradley leading the charge with two of her own.

"We make base running a priority in our program and we pride ourselves in taking extra bases," Larabee added.  "Today we felt like we had the ability to grab a base whenever we needed to do so and the players were excellent in that aspect of the game."

The Wildcats return to action tomorrow (Feb. 13) when they play Dominican University at Noon and 2 p.m. in San Rafael, Calif.