ORLANDO – All 21 in the home third base dugout understood the magnitude and importance of Sunday afternoon’s tilt with the Cougars.
Not only was a key late-season series up for grabs, but the Black and Gold knew they wanted to send their seniors off on a high note in their home finale as well.
"Coming out, we knew how big today was for our seniors."
Sierra HumphreysThird basemanA late-inning surge accomplished their mission, as UCF’s offensive corps rattled off 10 unanswered scores in downing Houston in run-rule fashion, 10-2, in six innings at the UCF Softball Complex.
The effort secured UCF’s third Big 12 Conference series win this season after the Knights took Friday’s series-opener, 4-2, as well as the program’s 20th home win of the spring, clinching the fourth consecutive season and fifth in the last six years with at least 20 wins in Orlando under head coach Cindy Ball-Malone.
With a 20-12 record at the UCF Softball Complex in 2025, the program’s home mark in the Ball-Malone era improved to 143-55-1 spanning the last seven years, good for a .721 win percentage.
UCF’s latest victory marked its sixth win of the year by run-rule, as well as its third such win over a power four opponent. The win also pushed the Knights’ all-time record against Houston to 37-23, including a 16-4 mark when facing the Cougars under Ball-Malone.
“We played a little tight in the first three innings, then we were able to let loose and play our game. Houston’s gritty. Kudos to Kaitlyn Felton and Isabella Vega for keeping us in the game and allowing us to get our bats going and explode in that sixth inning.”
Cindy Ball-MaloneHead CoachFelton, taking the circle at the UCF Softball Complex for what could be the final time in her four-year Knights career, battled through 2.1 innings against a patient Cougars lineup before Vega was summoned in relief for the 24th appearance of her debut season.
Entering into a bases-loaded, one out jam in the top of the third, Vega escaped the threat yielding just a sacrifice fly to center field, getting her team back to the dugout trailing by two.
“We know when Isa comes in, she’s going to shut them down,” Ashleigh Griffin said of her pitcher. “She’s going to have Kaitlyn’s back coming in behind her, and as long as we score a few runs for her, we’ll be in a perfect place to win a game.”
Beginning in the bottom half, the runs certainly came.
An umpire-reviewed hit-by-pitch taken by fifth year Madison Simon with one out kick-started UCF’s offense, and after Aubrey Evans worked a walk behind her, Humphreys plated UCF’s first run of the afternoon with a ground ball single up the middle.
Coming through in the clutch!@SHumphreys2023 https://t.co/mk02dh8U4N pic.twitter.com/bgXkR1Xg6c
— UCF Softball (@UCF_Softball) April 27, 2025
Vega then turned in a perfect fourth inning and stranded a pair of Cougars in the fifth before her team took command of the affairs in the home half.
Three more Knights came around to score in the fifth, courtesy of Humphreys’ second RBI single of the day, an RBI groundout by Stormy Kotzelnick, and a key two-out single by Griffin that gave UCF a bit of breathing room with a 4-2 advantage.
“It’s so much fun. Once one goes, the rest are going to follow, and that’s when we play our best game. It’s a lot of fun and really energetic.”
Ashleigh GriffinRedshirt junior first basemanIn the moments following the third straight scoreless frame authored by Vega, the Black and Gold ensured she wouldn’t need to take the circle again, scoring six more times in the home half of the sixth to secure the run-rule.
Izzy Mertes, who led off the frame with a five-pitch walk, would score on a wild pitch, and Simon brought home her squad’s sixth tally with a soft single that just evaded the dive of the Houston second baseman.
Kotzelnick later drove in Evans with a single to center field, her second RBI of the contest, and Griffin punctuated UCF’s home slate with an exclamation point, clubbing a 2-1 pitch over the left field fence for a three-run, game-ending home run.
“I was just trying to pass the bat there, we knew we wanted to keep pushing and not settle. This game was bigger than just a win; we wanted to play for our seniors. I was up there to play for them.”
Ashleigh Griffinredshirt junior first basemanThe home run concluded a prolific offensive week for the first baseman, who also helped complete the largest comeback win in program history at Stetson Wednesday evening with a seventh-inning, go-ahead three-run homer. In four games this week, Griffin hit .462 (6-for-13) with two home runs, nine RBI, 12 total bases and a .923 slugging percentage.
Her four RBI also matched a single-game career high, last achieved in UCF’s 21-9 rout of Wisconsin Feb. 16, 2024.
ASH CALLED GAME!!@ashleighgriff27 pic.twitter.com/vmX561cnfi
— UCF Softball (@UCF_Softball) April 27, 2025
Kotzelnick’s multi-hit game also represented the latest in a prolific offensive stretch for the redshirt senior, as she has represented UCF’s leading hitter in the team’s last 10 games since its series-opener at BYU April 10, hitting an aggregate .455 (15-for-33) with six runs scored, one double, one triple, eight RBI and 18 total bases.
In the circle, Vega, who entered the series with the third-lowest ERA in the Big 12 Conference, lowered her season mark to a glistening 1.34 with 3.2 frames of two-hit ball.
“Any win is valuable,” Ball-Malone said. “Big time for us, to win on Sunday in the last game of the series. We’re looking forward to pushing through and getting better for next weekend.”
UP NEXT
With the Knights’ home slate complete, the team will look to finish the regular season strong in its final conference series before the Big 12 Conference tournament. Matching up against the Kansas Jayhawks May 2-4, first pitch for Friday’s series-opener is set for 6 p.m. ET from Arrocha Ballpark in Lawrence, Kansas and will be streamed on ESPN+.
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