Feb. 18, 2007
UCF 1, Colorado State 0
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UCF 6, Seton Hall 2
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Las Vegas, Nev. (www.ucfathletics.com) - The UCF softball team bounced back with two wins on Saturday, taking a 1-0 victory over Colorado State and a 6-2 decision over Seton Hall during day two of the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic. The offense combined for 20 hits in the two victories, including a season-high 11 in game two, while the pitching staff surrendered only four hits.
In the first game of the day, junior Allison Kime (Brandon, Fla./Hillsborough C.C.) hit a solo home run and tossed a two-hit shutout from the circle to lead the Golden Knights to a 1-0 victory over Colorado State. Kime also added a single to go 2-for-3 at the plate, while giving up only a pair of singles to the Rams.
The Knights (4-4) had the bats going as they equaled their then season-high with nine hits in the contest, but Kime's second home run of the season was the only run the offense could account for against CSU (4-6) starter Jessica Strickland.
Both teams moved runners to third base in the second frame, but could not push a run across. Kime led off the second with a single to center and made her way to third, but was left stranded as Strickland retired the next three Golden Knights. Julia Kloppe singled for the Rams in their half of the second, but she too was left on third.
UCF strung together a trio of hits in the third, but once again came up empty. CSU centerfielder Kayla Kruetzman threw out Breanne Javier (Castaic, Calif./Valencia) at the plate to end the threat as she was trying to score from second on a two-out single through the middle by Amber Lamb (West Palm Beach, Fla./John I. Leonard).
Kime broke the scoreless tie in the fourth as she sent the first pitch of the inning she saw from her counterpart over the leftfield wall.
Kime walked her only two batters in the fourth, but was able to pitch out the jam. The JUCO-transfer allowed only two base runners after the fourth to secure her third win of the season. She fanned six in the contest that snapped a three-game losing streak for the Knights.
Freshman Morgan Bullard (Columbia, S.C./Spring Valley) had the first two-hit game of her young career.
In game two, a 6-2 defeat of Seton Hall, five different Knights had a pair of hits and Lexi Gresham allowed just two hits in four innings of work to pick up her first victory of the season.
Centerfield Kacie Feaster (Jacksonville, Fla./Trinity Christian Academy) led off the bottom of the first with a long home run to left field, which was her first of the season.
Seton Hall answered back in the top of the second when Laura Baranek scored on an infield single by Allison Gengler. That would be the only earned run allowed in the game as Gresham ended the second, third and fourth innings by striking out a Pirate.
UCF took the lead back 2-1 in the third inning when Feaster scored again after leading off the frame with a double. The Knights' centerfielder came around to score when Cici Alvarez reached on a bunt single, but was caught in a rundown on the play between first and second.
The Knights threatened to put up a big inning in the fourth, but settled for just a run on three hits and a pair of walks in the frame. Ashley Van Ryn (Atlanta, Ga./Greater Atlanta Christian) singled, but was thrown out at the plate on a single by Bullard. Pinch-hitter Shelly Frick was credited with an RBI after drawing a bases loaded walk.
UCF built its advantage to 6-1 in the fifth with three runs. Van Ryn drove in two of those with a sharp double to left-center, then scored the third when she stole home following an infield single by Bullard.
The Pirates tacked on an unearned run in the sixth off reliever Ashleigh Cole, but the freshman was able to hold the lead to earn the first save of her career. Cole tossed three hitless innings in relief. Lamb and second baseman Hillary Barrow (Miami, Fla./Felix Varela) joined Bullard, Feaster and Van Ryn with two hits in the victory.
UCF closes out their five-game weekend trip to Las Vegas on Sunday morning with a tilt against Oklahoma State at Noon ET.