April 14, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - After winning two games at home last weekend, the UCF softball team begins an eight-game road stretch Wednesday when it travels to Gainesville to challenge No. 1/1 Florida at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. The contest with the Gators is scheduled to get underway at 6 p.m.
GAME DAY ESSENTIALS
? Schedule
Wednesday, April 15
6:00 p.m. - UCF at No. 1/1 Florida
? The Coaches
UCF: Renee Luers-Gillispie
UF: Tim Walton
? Records
UCF: 21-22, 6-9 C-USA
UF: 42-3, 20-1 SEC
? Series
UF leads UCF, 7-2
? Last Meeting
UCF 0, Florida 10 (5 inn.) (2008)
NCAA Gainesville Regional Final
? UCF'S Last Time Out
4.11.2009
vs. Marshall, L, 9-6
? Radio
Stretch Radio
(UCFAthletics.com)
? Live Video
Gatorvision.tv
(gatorzone.com)
? Live Stats
Gametracker
(UCFAthletics.com)
? The UCF softball team enters its mid-week, non-conference match-up with No. 1/1 Florida Wednesday with a 21-22 record on the season after taking two of three games from Marshall last weekend in Conference USA action.
? No. 1/1 Florida entertains the Knights at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium with a 42-3 record on the season, while riding an eight-game winning streak. The Gators won two contests against Kentucky last weekend on the road, while pulling out an extra-inning win against No. 21 Florida State in their last three games. UF is led at the plate by Aja Paculba, who boasts team-highs in batting average (.388), runs (44) and hits (54), and Francesca Anea who is batting .352 with 14 home runs, 53 RBI and a .754 slugging percentage.
? Florida leads the all-time series with the Knights, 2-7, with one of UCF's wins coming in the NCAA Regional Championship last season. After falling to the Gators in the teams' first meeting of the tournament, the Black and Gold bounced back with a 1-0, extra-inning victory over the national No. 1 seeded-Florida in the Gainesville Regional final, forcing a tie-breaker game. The Knights would eventually fall in the final, 10-0.
? Wednesday marks the third-straight meeting between UCF and Florida in which the Gators have been the top-ranked team in the nation.
? Heading into Wednesday's contest, UCF, along with head coach Renee Luers-Gillispie, is only one win away from reaching the 300-win milestone as a program. The Knights won two games in the Conference USA series with Marshall last weekend, putting them one game away from the benchmark.
TRIPLE TIME
Tiffany Lane pulled in the Knights' highest ranking in the NCAA National Rankings again this week. With eight triples this season, the sophomore matched national-leader Audrey Phillips from Southern University with her three-RBI triple in the series finale vs. Marshall. The shortstop also moved to the top of the UCF single-season record chart with the three-bagger, while also ranking sixth nationally in triples per game (0.19).
FIRING A NO-NO
Junior hurler Kristina DeMello tossed her first career no-hitter, and the first for a Knight at the UCF Softball Complex, Saturday as the Black and Gold swept a doubleheader from Marshall with a 3-0 victory in the nightcap. DeMello fell only two hit-batters and an error short of a perfect game, while picking up her sixth win of the year. The junior also tallied five strikeouts to earn her second shutout of 2009. The last time a Knight threw a no-hitter was on March 25, 2008, when Allison Kime fanned 10 batters in a shutout win at Florida Atlantic. Kime was also the last pitcher to throw a no-hitter at home, blanking Boston College at the former UCF Softball Complex that was located adjacent to Jay Bergman Field. DeMello's no-hitter was the ninth in UCF-program history.
MAKING HER MARK
Tiffany Lane made her mark in the UCF and C-USA record books in the league-series finale with Marshall, when the sophomore belted her 15th career triple. The three-RBI triple lengthened Lane's lead on the program's all-time record for triples and gave the sophomore sole possession of the third-highest mark in C-USA history.
ON DECK FOR THE KNIGHTS
UCF is back in action Saturday when it travels to Texas for a showdown with C-USA rival, Houston. The Knights and the Cougars will face-off in a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 2 p.m. ET, before concluding the three-game series Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. Houston leads the all-time series 2-8, with both of UCF's wins coming in 2008, one during the regular-season and one to win the C-USA Championship crown.
TRI-HIT PERFORMANCE
Junior Hillary Barrow paced the Black and Gold at the plate in the Knights' opening game against then-league leader Marshall on Saturday, putting together her first three-hit performance of the season and second of her career. Barrow posted a run and a RBI in her first three-hit outing of 2009. Her only other tri-hit performance came against Marshall last season.
CONTINUING TO CLOSE THE GAP
With seven hits in four games last week, which included three two-hit performances, senior Breanne Javier has now totaled 50 hits on the season. The first baseman continues to close in on the No. 2 spot on the program's all-time register, sitting only 30 hits away from matching Jania Shinhoster for the second-most hits in UCF softball history.
Season tickets are on sale now for the 2009 softball season, which features 34 home games at the UCF Softball Complex. For the latest news on the Knights, log on to www.UCFAthletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. The site, which also contains ticket and Golden Knights Club donor information, is also the home of UCF's new online apparel store. Also visit www.UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.
-UCF