TAMPA, Fla. – For the (RV) UCF softball team, four straight games against the Memphis Tigers was more than enough.
Drawing a first-round meeting with the Tigers in their opener of the 2023 American Athletic Conference Tournament, the second-seeded Knights surged past No. 7 Memphis with a thrilling sixth-inning rally, headlined by a Jasmine Williams two-run go-ahead home run, to take their quarterfinal matchup by a 7-4 final score at USF Softball Stadium.
The contest represented the fourth consecutive game UCF (37-19) played against the Tigers (8-43) following the Knights' three-game sweep of Memphis on the road to conclude the regular season last weekend, wins the Knights had to work for with a nine-inning victory in the series-opener and a win in the seventh inning of game two.
"It's tough playing a team four times," Williams said. "You see everyone, everyone knows everyone and their tendencies. Memphis kind of had my number this past weekend. Coming up and hitting the ball solid, I knew that I was going to piece something together. That was everyone's mindset. We had seen their pitchers and everything that they had, so eventually we were going to get it."
It would be easy to point to UCF's four-run sixth as the turning point that shifted the momentum the Knights' way, but a key fourth-inning double play was the catalyst for UCF's 11th consecutive win and 18th in its past 19 games.
Trailing 4-1 in the top of the fourth, with UCF's lone tally coming via a Kennedy Searcy triple to right field and a Jada Cody sacrifice fly in the third, Memphis again threatened for more with a pair of leadoff walks against right-hander Sarah Willis, who relieved starter Grace Jewell after two-plus innings.
The reigning American Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year induced a pop out in foul territory for the first out of the frame, followed by a ground ball to second baseman Micaela Macario, who effectively turned it into a pair of outs with Williams and first baseman Shannon Doherty.
Head coach Cindy Ball-Malone exploded out of the Knights' dugout with an emotional display of enthusiastic encouragement in effort to inject new life into her team and spark a late-game offensive surge.
"I knew it was a big-time moment," Ball-Malone said. "Their leadoff hitter had given us trouble, but she did a great job for their team getting on. Rolling a double play with her up was huge, and that's when I was like, 'We can come back and take this thing.' I saw that all of us were a little hesitant, so I thought 'Well, if they need a little pushing, I'm ready to do it.'"
A brand-new Knights squad took the field in the bottom of the fourth. UCF put the first two runners on via a Chloe Evans single and a Doherty hit-by-pitch, and Willis followed with an RBI single of her own to cut Memphis' lead to 4-2. Williams added a sacrifice fly to score Doherty two batters later, setting the stage for the Knights' sixth-inning heroics.
Willis continued to produce crucial zeros in the top of the fifth and sixth innings, and Macario reached with one out in the bottom of the sixth on a fielding error by Tigers pitcher Halli Siems.
Williams strode to the right-handed batter's box and deposited the second pitch she saw over the left field fence, giving UCF its first lead of the afternoon, 5-4, and sending the Knights dugout into a state of euphoria.
"I was just trying to build some momentum for my team and move LaLa over," Williams said. "I wasn't thinking of home run in that situation, just trying to hit the ball hard, and I hit the ball hard enough for it to go over the fence. Once it went over, it was just a rush of adrenaline, and I knew we were going to build off that momentum, so I was glad that I could provide that for my team."
The home run was the biggest of Williams' young Knights career, with her game-tying solo shot in the sixth inning of the Knights' March 3 matchup against No. 2 UCLA a close second.
Freshman utility infielder Aubrey Evans, a selection to The American's All-Conference Second Team and All-Rookie Team just one day prior, later followed with a bases-loaded single to drive in UCF's final two runs of the day.
"I just came in there, I was going to look for a pitch that I could drive and move runners, Coach Bear told me to put something deep so we could at least get one run. Last weekend when we were playing them, I had some good-pieced barrels to the right side, so I knew that it was going to come. She threw me one and I just got a good barrel on it and hit it up the middle."
Willis, pitching with a lead for the first time, returned to the circle in the top of the seventh and slammed the door with a spotless inning that included her first strikeout of the game.
The right-hander's five-inning, one-run (0 ER) appearance represented her 15th straight with two or fewer runs allowed dating back to her seven-inning complete-game victory over Wichita State March 24, a span during which Willis has posted a 0.78 ERA (71.2 IP, 8 ER) with a 48:25 strikeout-to-walk ratio and a .153 batting average-against.
UP NEXT
The second-seeded Knights advance to Friday's second round and will face off against the host No. 3 South Florida Bulls following their 7-0 win over No. 6 ECU in the first round's third and final game Thursday. First pitch from USF Softball Stadium is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
