Feb. 17, 2005
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ORLANDO, Fla. - After starting the season with 11 games on the road, the UCF softball team opens the 2005 home schedule with the first of three tournaments at the UCF Softball Complex. The Golden Knights take on Longwood and North Dakota State on Friday afternoon before matching up with Boston University on Saturday morning. The four teams will be seeded according to record based on their three previous games, and placed in bracket play. The No. 1 and No. 4 seeds play at 1 p.m. while the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds match up directly afterwards. The two losers will play Sunday morning at 9 a.m. in the Silver Championship for third place with the two winners following in the Gold Championship.
The Golden Knights enter the tournament 6-5 after winning three of four a weekend ago at the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic in Las Vegas. Friday's play was rained out, but that didn't affect UCF as the Golden Knights upset No. 11/8 Washington, 1-0 in the opening game on Saturday afternoon. Stephanie Best paces the offense with a .364 batting average. The South Carolina native is coming off a two homer weekend, and currently leads the Golden Knights with 8 RBI's. Lindsay Enders has started seven of the 11 games for UCF totaling a 4-3 mark with a 2.96 ERA, while opponents are hitting only .174 against Enders.
North Dakota State and Boston University are playing in their first action of 2005, while Longwood comes in at 0-2.
NDSU was 40-11 last season, and have gone 127-32 over the last three seasons. The Bison finished the year ranked No. 20 in the NFCA Division II rankings, and finished third in the North Central Region.
Courtney Lacock was a dual threat last season going 16-2 in the pitching circle, and was fourth on the team with 25 RBI's.
The Bison have to replace their top three hitters from a season ago. Lynnae Foshag and Amy Hemingson pace the group returning hitting .336 and .321 last season.
BU lost in the America East championship game to Maine preventing the Terriers from capturing its third consecutive conference crown.
Jamie Haas hit a team-high .350, and was a threat on the basepads swiping 18 bases last season. Liz Alley hit 12 homers and drove in 36 RBI's, both were team-highs.
BU also has experience in the pitching circle as the entire staff returns from a season ago. Headlining the group is Ashlee Freeman who went 18-13, and stuck out 143 batters.
Longwood opened the season last Sunday dropping a doubleheader at Furman. The Lancers dropped game one, 4-3 in eight innings before falling in the second game, 9-4.
Jen Steele faced all but eight batters against Furman. She is 0-1 with a 4.08 ERA with batters hitting .321 against her.
Steele along with Ryan Washington lead the offense attack hitting .400 on the young season.
This weekend is the first time that UCF will face all three squads on the softball diamond. Admission is free to the UCF Softball Complex for all games.