Softball Set for NCAA Austin Regional against No. 3 Texas, No. 25 Michigan, Eastern IllinoisSoftball Set for NCAA Austin Regional against No. 3 Texas, No. 25 Michigan, Eastern Illinois

Softball Set for NCAA Austin Regional against No. 3 Texas, No. 25 Michigan, Eastern Illinois

by Ryan Ladika

ORLANDO – The first destination may have represented a bit of a surprise, but the goal remains the same.

With the announcement Sunday evening that the UCF softball team will participate in its fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament and the 12th in program history, the Knights are set for their first regional berth outside the state of Florida, when the group will meet the host and No. 3 Texas Longhorns, the No. 6 national seed in the tournament, No. 25 Michigan Wolverines and Eastern Illinois Panthers in Austin, Texas.

“It’s super exciting. A lot of us had guesses where we could possibly go. We were ready if they were going to send us to Tallahassee for the third straight year, so it was exciting to hear our name get called at Texas, especially, after playing them last year. They’re a really good team, so we’re looking forward to going and competing in a really good regional.”

Kaitlyn FeltonSenior RHP

The Black and Gold bring a 33-22-1 overall record into the NCAA Austin Regional, already having surpassed the team’s 31 total wins accrued throughout the 2024 campaign, and boast a final NCAA RPI rank of 30, its best end-of-season mark since finishing at No. 14 in 2022.

The group most recently concluded a 1-1 showing at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Championship in Oklahoma City, earning the first Big 12 tournament win in program history, 7-5, over the Utah Utes before falling in a tightly-contested 4-3 matchup with the No. 10 Arizona Wildcats in the tournament’s quarterfinal round.

Redshirt freshman Isabella Vega, named to the NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year top 10 finalist list, led the Knights to their winning effort over Utah with 6.2 innings of one-run ball and was bolstered by timely hitting throughout the evening.

The Bradenton native brought a no-hitter into the sixth inning, and after the Knights jumped out to an early 5-0 advantage, the squad withstood a late Utes rally and clinched its 33rd win of the season on Ashleigh Griffin’s walk-off two-run home run.

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Aubrey Evans then hit the Knights’ second home run in as many days in her team’s quarterfinal contest against the Wildcats, but a late-inning Arizona rally ended the Black and Gold’s conference tournament run.

“We’re starting off with a new season, 0-0,” said outfielder Madison Simon of beginning NCAA Tournament play. “We’re treating it like a new season and the start of something new. Playing Texas, which was in the Big 12 in the past, and two other strong tournament teams in Michigan and Eastern Illinois is going to be a great experience for our group.”

Griffin’s long ball in UCF’s win over Utah marked her fourth game-winning homer of the season, joining her three-run shot in UCF’s largest overall comeback win in program history at Stetson April 23, her fourth-inning solo shot at No. 4 Arizona March 7, and her fifth-inning two-run homer at No. 4 Arizona March 8.

In tossing a team-leading 11.1 innings in Oklahoma City with just four earned runs allowed, Vega, meanwhile, will bring a team-best 1.35 ERA into the postseason, a mark that not only ranks third-best in the Big 12 Conference but also fourth-best among power four pitchers and seventh-lowest in the nation.

Sophomore Sierra Humphreys and freshman Izzy Mertes both lead UCF’s offensive charge into Austin, with the former pacing her team with a .449 on-base percentage and the latter leading the squad in walks (30) and doubles (16) with a .583 slugging percentage that trails only Evans .585 for the team lead.

With three more doubles the remainder of the season, Mertes would best Evans’ 2023 program single-season doubles record of 18, and she enters postseason play second in the Big 12 in two-baggers only to Arizona’s Kaiah Altmeyer.

“It was interesting for Florida and Florida State to pop up early and our name wasn’t in either regional. It’s an awesome opportunity and no one on our team has ever played there. It’s a great environment and atmosphere, and we’ve got some history against some of those teams.”

Cindy Ball-Malonehead coach

UCF’s first opponent of the weekend, the Michigan Wolverines, represents a familiar postseason foe after the Knights notably earned back-to-back wins over Michigan to win the 2022 NCAA Orlando Regional May 21-22, 2022, and earn the first NCAA Super Regional berth in program history.

The Black and Gold are 4-2 against the Wolverines in the Ball-Malone era overall, and also earned an 8-2 win over Michigan, then ranked No. 25, in Clearwater Feb. 17, 2023, as well as a 3-2 eight-inning victory over the Wolverines in California March 6, 2020, prior to the season’s cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Michigan enters the tournament riding a strong run of recent play, having gone 4-0 in the Big Ten Tournament to claim its second straight conference tournament title and 12th in program history. The Wolverines toppled Wisconsin, No. 4 Oregon, Purdue and No. 9 UCLA in completing their tournament run in West Lafayette, Indiana, including shutout wins over the top 10-ranked Ducks and Bruins.

The team’s title run, during which it allowed just four total runs and outscored its opposition 14-4 over the four games, added on to a 38-19 overall record this season. The Wolverines are led in the circle by the tandem of senior Lauren Derkowski and sophomore Erin Hoehn, two 17-game winners who have both produced sub-3.00 ERAs in 180.1 and 124.2 innings pitched, respectively.

Derkowski was also awarded Big Ten Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors after allowing only three earned runs in 19 innings pitched, appearing in each of Michigan’s four tournament games.

“It’s a full circle moment. I’ve heard from a few of my teammates from my freshman year talking about it. I’m ready to go out this way and keep my career going with this team.”

Kaitlyn Feltonon facing Michigan again

The No. 6 national seed Longhorns, UCF’s former Big 12 Conference mate, share a brief matchup history with the Knights, with the Black and Gold looking for the second win in program history over Texas.

UCF topped then-No. 9 Texas in the first meeting between the two teams by a 15-10 final score in the 2022 Clearwater Invitational, before dropping three hard-fought matchups in Orlando last season that saw the Knights yield just 12 runs to a high-powered Longhorns offense throughout the weekend.

Texas, ranked No. 3 in the latest NFCA/GoRout coaches’ poll, authored a dominant run through its first season as a member of the SEC, bringing a 46-10 overall record into the tournament.

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The Longhorns won six of their eight SEC conference series, including sweeps of then-No. 23 Auburn, Missouri and Kentucky and series wins over then-No. 3 Florida, then-No. 18 Mississippi State, and then-No. 9 LSU. They then earned an SEC Tournament quarterfinal win over then-No. 18 Ole Miss May 8, by a 7-6 final score, before falling to the top-ranked Texas A&M Aggies, 14-2 in five innings in the semifinal round.

The team saw a conference-best seven members selected to post-season All-SEC teams, led by first-teamers Reese Atwood, Teagan Kavan, Mia Scott and Joley Mitchell. Kayden Henry, Ashton Maloney and Katie Stewart also made the cut for the second team.

“I remember pitching against Texas last year, and some of our other girls who were here last year remember their pitchers. We’re excited; we played a few good games with them last year, and then my freshman year when we played them in Clearwater. We’re excited to get after it and face such a good program.”

Kaitlyn Feltonsenior RHP

The Knights have never faced Eastern Illinois, which earned the second NCAA Tournament berth in program history and first since 2023 with its 2025 OVC Tournament title.

The Panthers won the OVC’s regular-season and tournament titles this spring, the fourth and second for the program, respectively, and bring a 34-20 record into postseason play.

The team won seven conference series during the regular season, and went a perfect 4-0 in the conference tournament against fourth-seeded Southern Indiana and second-seeded SIUE, outscoring its opposition by an aggregate 13-9 over its four-game tournament run.

UP NEXT

First pitch for UCF’s postseason-opener against No. 25 Michigan is set for 2 p.m. ET from Red & Charline McCombs Field in Austin, Texas, Friday, and will be broadcast live on ESPN2.

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