April 19, 2005
ORLANDO, Fla. - The UCF softball team travels to Tampa, Fla. where the squad will take on USF Wednesday afternoon at 5 p.m. The Black and Gold will start the game with a 38-22-1 record on the season, while the Bulls enter with a 32-20 season mark.
Stephanie Best paces the UCF offense with a .335 batting average, 22 home runs, 51 RBI and 125 total bases. She has a team-high slugging percentage of .776. Jania Shinhoster leads the team in hits with 60 and is second in batting average at .330 with 10 doubles, four triples and three home runs.
Lindsay Enders and Kelly McIntyre anchor the pitching staff with a combined record of 30-15. Enders is 19-10 with a 1.51 ERA, while McIntyre is 11-5 with a 2.39 ERA. Enders leads the pitching staff in strikeouts with 159 as opponents are only hitting .189 against her.
Last time out, UCF took two from Mercer on Sunday in Macon, Ga. The Golden Knights defeated the Bears, 3-1, in the first game, followed by a 15-4 win in game two.
Kacie Feaster led the Black and Gold at the plate, going 4-for-6 with three singles, one double, two RBI and one run. Enders earned the win in game one, giving up one run on four hits in seven innings, while striking out seven and walking five. Jennifer Tomasetti picked up the win in game two, giving up four runs on seven hits, two walks and three strikeouts.
USF is led offensively by Tiffany Stewart. The Odessa, Fla. native is batting .377 with five home runs, three triples and nine doubles. She also leads the Bulls in slugging percentage (.594).
As a team, USF is hitting .299 with 35 home runs.
Bree Spence leads the pitching staff with a record of 15-11 on the season and an ERA of 1.98. Spence has given up 81 runs on 182 hits, 34 walks and 91 strikeouts in 176.1 innings of work. Opponents are hitting .258 against Spence.
The Bulls have a team ERA of 2.24 in 357 innings. USF has given up 173 runs on 337 hits, while striking out 225 and walking 118.
USF swept visiting Charlotte in three games over the weekend. Samantha Ray and Carly Griffin were both 5-for-8 at the plate for USF. Spence picked up the win for game one, while Kasey Cash earned the wins in last two games for the Bulls.
This will be the sixth time that UCF and USF have met on the softball diamond with the Bulls leading the series, 5-0. The last time that these two teams met was on March 12, 2005 at the Speedline Tournament in Clearwater, Fla. with USF defeating the Golden Knights, 6-2. Crystle Krafft led UCF at the plate, going 1-for-1 with two runs, while McIntyre was tagged with the loss after giving up three runs on four hits and two strikeouts in four innings of work.
UCF returns home on Saturday, April 23 when the team hosts A-Sun rival Jacksonville on Senior Day. The Senior Day activities will begin at 1:30 p.m. with the first pitch to follow at 2 p.m. Admission is free to all UCF softball games.