Softball Bests Houston, 4-2, in Friday Series-OpenerSoftball Bests Houston, 4-2, in Friday Series-Opener

Softball Bests Houston, 4-2, in Friday Series-Opener

by Ryan Ladika
Box Score

ORLANDO – In the moments following the Knights’ latest victory, junior shortstop Aubrey Evans pointed to the importance of two-out hitting and its ability to make or break a team’s opportunities throughout a game.

“Two-out hitting is huge. We saw that happen Wednesday and it rolled over into this game.”

In authoring the largest comeback win in program history at Stetson Wednesday, the UCF softball team racked up a season-high eight hits with two outs. As the group closed out its 28th win of the year Friday, timely two-out offense was again the catalyst.

A four-run fifth inning propped up by strong showings by redshirt freshman Isabella Vega and senior Kaitlyn Felton headlined the Black and Gold’s Friday winning effort, accomplished by a 4-2 final score over the visiting Houston Cougars to kick off the final regular-season home series for the Knights.

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“It started off a little slow on both sides with strong showings in the circle. We broke it open in the fifth inning, and when you get to these games toward the end of the season, every win is a good one. I’d love to keep the momentum going.”

Cindy Ball-MaloneHead coach

Three of UCF’s four fifth-inning tallies came with two outs, with the big blow a two-run home run by Evans, her third long ball in her last four games and her eighth of the season overall.

It was sophomore utility player Samantha Rey, though, who ignited the rally with a one-out walk and scampered to second on a wild pitch. Freshman second baseman Coco Jaimes then beat out an infield single to place runners on the corners, and after the latter swiped second base, fifth year senior Madison Simon sent a deep fly ball to straightaway center field.

Though Simon missed clubbing a three-run home run by a matter of feet, the deep drive got the job done, plating Rey from third for the game’s first score.

“I just wanted to do anything I could for my team in that position. That should be the easiest opportunity you can have, to drive in a runner from third with only one out, so I knew to keep it simple and get it deep enough for Rey to score.”

Madison SimonFifth year outfielder

Evans was next, and after battling through the first six pitches of her plate appearance, she sent the seventh screaming over the left field fence to put UCF ahead 3-0.

“I saw a lot of pitches during my previous at-bat, and then she gave me one inside that I was looking for,” Evans recalled. “I got a good barrel on it, though I wasn’t sure if it was going to leave the yard. I’m happy it did, it felt good.”

Evans’ home run represented the first of five consecutive Knights to reach base safely with two outs in the inning, as she was followed by consecutive singles by Sierra Humphreys and Stormy Kotzelnick, then a walk by Ashleigh Griffin to load the bases.

Freshman outfielder Izzy Mertes then worked a seven-pitch walk to force in the Black and Gold’s fourth score of the inning.

“Having Aubrey and Sierra back-to-back at the top of the lineup, along with Stormy, gives us a crazy stackup, especially when they’re all on. With Aubrey, I’m crediting that to her away-from-the-team hard work; she’s doing a lot of it to work on becoming a great player. It’s paying off.”

Cindy Ball-MaloneHead coach

Vega, after spinning five innings of two-run ball Wednesday to help boost UCF to its comeback win, received the starting nod from her head coach Friday and picked up where she left off.

The redshirt freshman, just hours after becoming the first player in program history to be tabbed to the NFCA’s Division I Freshman of the Year Top 25 finalist list, turned in four scoreless frames to keep her team in the contest until the fifth inning.

She needed just five pitches to work through a 1-2-3 first before striking out a pair in the top of the second. A leadoff walk in the third was erased with a strong throw to second base by catcher Kiley Strott, who notched her eighth runner caught stealing this season, good for a share of fourth-most in the Big 12 Conference.

Vega then worked around a pair of free passes in the fourth inning, thanks in part to a fortuitous double play aided by a Houston baserunning miscue.

“It’s super exciting. It’s so awesome to have somebody who’s young and that good, it means a lot to our program. I’m excited to work with her as long as we can, and I want to see her keep getting better.”

Cindy Ball-Maloneon Isabella Vega

After the Cougars managed back-to-back leadoff baserunners in the fifth, Ball-Malone called upon her veteran right-hander Kaitlyn Felton to calm the storm.

Felton immediately recorded her first punchout, and escaped the threat with a subsequent lineout to third and a ground ball to second base.

Three more groundouts saw Felton safely through the sixth, and she weathered a late Houston rally in the seventh, limiting the team to two scores with three more outs on the ground.

“She just has that senior mentality to shut things down,” Simon said of Felton. “It’s senior weekend, so I know all of us want to do as much as we can for our team.”

UP NEXT

The Knights look to clinch the series win in game two against the Cougars Saturday, with first pitch set for 2 p.m. from the UCF Softball Complex.

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