March 1, 2012
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By Andrew Jennette
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Riding a four-game winning streak, the UCF softball team is ready to celebrate spring break in front of its home fans starting on Friday at the UCF & Holiday Inn Select Spring Fling tournament at the UCF Softball Complex.
The Knights begin play with a double header on Friday beginning with a 1 p.m. matchup against Penn, followed by a 5 p.m. contest with Jacksonville. The tournament concludes for UCF on Saturday with another double header, as the Knights will face UIC at 4 p.m. followed by a showdown with Stetson at 6 p.m. The tournament wraps up on Sunday with a pair of games, but UCF is not scheduled to compete.
UCF comes into the weekend with a record of 9-7 overall with a 5-1 mark at home. The Black and Gold have showcased elite pitching all season as they lead Conference USA in ERA, wins, complete games, innings pitched and batting average against.
The Knights pitching staff has been paced by freshman Mackenzie Audas (Plant City, Fla.), senior Ali Schmidt (Cordova, Md.) and junior Alex Hartshorn (Tampa, Fla.). Audas currently leads the Knights with four wins, a 1.78 ERA, eight complete games and 56 strikeouts in 59 innings. Schmidt, the reigning C-USA Pitcher of the Week, holds a 1.89 ERA with three wins and a save. Hartshorn is coming off her best performance on the season on Tuesday when she pitched five scoreless innings. She has two wins and a 3.50 ERA on the season.
"We are very excited about having three pitchers now that we feel like we can throw against anyone we play," head coach Renee Luers-Gillispie said. "Their teammates are calling them the `Three Amigos' because you never seen one without the other two close by. I think all three of them are really helping each other with fine-tuning their pitches and how to attack certain hitters."
On Friday, the Black and Gold will face Penn in their first game. The Quakers will be making their 2012 season debut in Orlando and are set to play 13 games in eight days starting on Friday. Penn returns 12 letterwinners, including eight regular starters from the 2011 squad that won 18 games.
The second matchup on Friday will pit the Knights against Jacksonville University in a rematch of the two teams' Feb. 24 contest that the Dolphins won 3-2. The Dolphins are currently 8-8 and are led by senior pitcher Sarah Sigrest, who was the winning pitcher the Knights faced on Feb. 24. UCF has an 11-2 all-time record against the Dolphins.
On Saturday, UCF goes head-to-head with UIC. The Flames are currently 7-7 and led by junior outfielder Melissa Preish, who is hitting .442 with two home runs and eight RBI in 14 starts. UCF holds a 2-0 all-time mark against UIC.
The final matchup of the weekend for the Knights comes against Stetson. Stetson is 8-2 on the season and is led by freshman Courtney Brandt who is hitting .364 with three home runs and 10 RBI. UCF has a 12-6 all-time record against the Hatters.
UCF fans can follow all the action on UCF All-Access with live video and the voice of UCF softball, Eric Lopez. Fans can also follow on UCFAthletics.com Gametracker as well as www.twitter.com/UCF_Softball. For more information on the UCF & Holiday Inn Select Spring Fling tournament, fans can visit our tournament central by clicking here.
The Black and Gold will play four of their 24 remaining home games at the UCF Softball Complex this weekend, with season tickets for the 2012 season costing only $40. Tickets are available for purchase online at UCFAthletics.com and Ticketmaster.com, or by calling the UCF Athletics Ticket Office at (407) UCF-1000.