May 9, 2008
Watch | | Championship Central
Houston, Texas (www.ucfathletics.com) - The No. 2 UCF softball team continues play at the Conference USA Softball Championship Friday at 3 p.m. EST, facing off with No. 6 UTEP in the semi-final round at the Cougar Softball Stadium in Houston, Texas. The Knights lost the series with the Miners mid-April, 1-2, and hold a 6-3 all-time record when facing UTEP.
Previewing UTEP
The Miners used two home runs from Ashley Perez, including a grand-slam in the first inning, to down No. 3 Tulsa, 8-4, Thursday afternoon to move into the semi-final contest with No. 2 UCF on Friday at 3 p.m. EST. Stacy Townsend also had a strong outing at the plate for UTEP, going 4-for-4 with two runs scored.
The win was the first for the Miners in the C-USA Softball Championship, as the contest was the first appearance for the team in the league's post-season event.
Throwing Down a Pair
Lexi Gresham's pair of hits in the C-USA Championship opening round win over Southern Miss marked only the second time this season that the redshirt sophomore posted a multiple-hit game. In the last four games, Gresham has raised her batting average from a .110 to a .141, recording four hits in 10 at bats.
Last Time Out vs. UTEP
In the teams' last meeting, UTEP out-slugged the Knights, taking the C-USA series in El Paso, Texas, 2-1. Hillary Barrow led the Black and Gold at the plate on the weekend, registering four hits, a double and scoring two runs. Allison Kime totaled 27 strikeouts over 13.1 innings of work, which included the C-USA-record 15-strikeout performance she put together in the series finale victory on April 13. The Knights stranded 22 runners on base in the series, a statistic that has been plaguing the team in the past weeks.
Over the Hill
The Knights' 43 wins during the regular-season are the second-most in program history, trailing only their 44-17 regular-season mark during the 2002 season. In that inaugural season, the Black and Gold went on to tally a 46-19 record after falling to Georgia State twice in the Atlantic Sun Tournament in Troy, Ala. In 2005, the Knights registered a 41-26-1 record at the end of regular-season play, but went on to win five games, including four-straight, in the ASun Tournament to win their first league crown and an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. After going 1-2 at Regionals in Gainesville, Fla., UCF finished the season with a program-record 47 wins, a mark that the 2008 squad looks to top.
Opening Day vs. Southern Miss
Hillary Barrow (Miami, Fla.) did not waste any time putting UCF on the scoreboard, blasting an opposite-field home run over the right field wall in the first inning, scoring both Marquita Council (Orlando, Fla.) and Breanne Javier (Castaic, Calif.) to lead the Knights to a 3-2 win over Southern Miss in the opening round of the C-USA Softball Championship. Council reached earlier in the inning on a single up the middle of the infield, while Javier reached on a walk issued by USM starter, Samantha Davis.
Barrow's home run was her second of the season and third of her career, the blast also marked the fourth time this season that a Knight hit a three-run shot.
Allison Kime (Brandon, Fla.) picked up the win in the circle, moving her record to 29-10 on the season.
The Knights look to clinch a spot in the NCAA Tournament when they compete for the Conference USA Softball Championship title May 8-10 at Houston. For tickets, visit c-usa.org. For the latest news and information on the Knights, tickets or apparel log on to www.ucfathletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. Also check out UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pics
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