UCF 1, Albany 0
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Boston 6, UCF 5
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Feb. 23, 2007
Orlando, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - The UCF softball team split the first two games of its 2007 home tournament, knocking off Albany, 1-0, before falling to Boston, 6-5. With the split the Golden Knights move their record to 8-6 on the season.
In game one, Kime pitched a gem as she allowed only one hit, while striking out eight Albany hitters.
Great Dane leftfielder Amber Maisonet opened the game with that lone hit as she reached on a bunt single. Maisonet was left stranded as she would be the last Albany player Kime allowed to reach base in the contest.
The JUCO-transfer set down the next 21, including eight by strikeout to record her third shutout of the season.
Kime's counterpart, Albany's Casey Halloran, was equal to the task, but the Golden Knights were able to push across an unearned run in the first that proved to be the difference in the game.
In that opening frame, UCF shortstop Amber Lamb (West Palm Beach, Fla./John I. Leonard) laced a two-out double down the leftfield line and moved to third on the play after an errant throw from the outfield. Kime then hit a ground ball to Butsch at short that could have ended the inning, but her fell out of first baseman Leanne Tillman's glove allowing Lamb to score the only run of the game.
Halloran only allowed a single to Alvarez after the first inning as neither pitcher issued a base on balls in the contest.
Kime improved to 5-3 on the season, while Halloran fell to 0-2 on the young season.
In game two, senior Kacie Feaster (Jacksonville, Fla./Trinity Christian Academy) went 4-for-4 with a home run and three RBI, but six late unanswered runs by the Terriers gave the visitors from the North a victory.
UCF grabbed a quick 2-0 lead in the opening frame of game two. For the second time this season, Feaster led off a game with a home run. Feaster's blast down the leftfield line was her team-leading third homer of the season.
Third baseman Cici Alvarez (Pembroke Pines, Fla./McArthur) also scored in the inning after she drew a walk, stole second and came across the plate on a bloop single by Ashleigh Cole (Pace, Fla./Pace).
Feaster drove in her second run of the game in the next inning as her two-out infield single scored Ashley Van Ryn (Atlanta, Ga./Greater Atlanta Christian) from third. Van Ryn led off the inning with a sharp single through the left side.
The same duo accounted for the next Golden Knights' run in the fourth. Van Ryn ripped a double down the leftfield line and once again scored on a two-out RBI single by Feaster. A fielding error by shortstop Meagan Butsch built UCF's lead to 5-0 in the inning as Feaster scored following a single by Alvarez.
Boston finally got to UCF starter Lexi Gresham in the fourth, after getting only one hit off the sophomore up until that point. The Terriers cut the lead to 5-4 with the big blow coming in the form of a three-run homer by Megan Coughlin. All four runs were unearned in the inning after a two-out error extended the frame.
The Terriers plated the tying and go-ahead runs in the fifth off of reliever Ashleigh Cole, who falls to 2-3 on the season. Boston pushed across the two runs on RBI-groundouts by Chiya Louie and Christy Leath.
Brittany Detwiler pitched three scoreless innings of relief for Boston, allowing only a hit to pick up her second win of the season.
Van Ryn and Feaster accounted for six of the Knights' nine hits in the game, while Gresham and Cole only allowed four hits to the opposition.
The UCF Tournament resumes on Saturday with six more games. The Golden Knights will take the field at 3:30 p.m. against George Mason, then close out the day with a match-up against Alabama State at 7:30 p.m. Action begins at the park when Villanova and Albany face each other at 9 a.m.