TULSA, Okla. – For the second consecutive day, the (RV) UCF softball team overcame an early deficit against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, but a shaky seventh inning proved the team's undoing and dashed its bid for its second eight-game win streak of the season.
A final frame that saw two singles and four walks, the last of which forced in the game's winning run with the bases loaded, snapped the Knights' seven-game win streak and sent UCF to a 5-4 defeat at Collins Family Softball Complex Saturday afternoon.
UCF (26-19, 5-3 AAC) for the second straight day was faced with a deficit following the first inning, and the club once again rallied behind a crooked number in the third inning. An infield single by shortstop Jasmine Williams and a walk drawn by third baseman Aubrey Evans set the table for first baseman Shannon Doherty.
The junior sent a fly ball to Tulsa (17-22, 3-5 AAC) right fielder Kailyn Bearpaw, who misplayed an attempted catch and allowed the ball to fall to the turf. Williams scored the tying run, and designated player Savannah Adams quickly came through with runners on second and third with an RBI single through the right side that gave the Knights a 3-1 advantage.
Adams' timely hit gave her two RBI in a game for the third time in her last five games, and the sophomore has now collected eight RBI in her last seven games dating back to the Knights' series-opener at ECU March 31.
Right fielder Chloe Evans later delivered in the top of the seventh inning with an RBI single of her own that ballooned UCF's lead to 4-2, extending her hit streak to five consecutive games. The Seymour, Wisconsin, native in that span has now gone 9-for-18 at the plate with nine RBI and six runs scored.
The combination of starter Grace Jewell and reliever Angelina DeVoe was unable to hold off a late Golden Hurricane rally, though, as Tulsa's patient approach at the plate eventually did the Knights in.
Jewell had navigated the game's first six innings with relative ease, allowing only two runs on four hits with four strikeouts. After Bearpaw reached on a UCF error with two away in the bottom of the first inning, Jewell retired 14 of the next 15 Tulsa hitters through the end of the fifth inning.
She tiptoed around a walk and a single in the sixth inning, limiting the damage to just a single run that cut UCF's lead to 3-2 before Evans' single, but the Golden Hurricane drew four walks and recorded a pair of singles in the seventh to hand the Knights their sixth walk-off defeat of the season.
UP NEXT
UCF will look to salvage a series win in the finale of the three-game set Sunday, with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.