April 13, 2012
UCF Athletics Social Media Directory
By Andrew Jennette
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - With a huge midweek win over No. 3 Florida under its belt, the UCF softball team ventures on the road to Birmingham, Ala., for a Conference USA weekend series at UAB. The two teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. EDT and will wrap up the three-game set at 2 Sunday.
The Knights (30-10, 9-3) and Blazers (25-14, 9-3) will be meeting for the 20th time on Saturday. UAB leads the all-time series 10-9, but the Knights won the last matchup between the two teams when they eliminated the Blazers from the C-USA tournament on May 12, 2011.
The Black and Gold have won seven consecutive conference games, including back-to-back sweeps over East Carolina and UTEP, and 10 straight overall. This weekend series is crucial for both teams, as the winner will hold sole possession of second place in the conference standings.
UCF head coach Renee Luers-Gillispie will likely stick with the same weekend rotation as last week. Reigning C-USA Pitcher of the Week Mackenzie Audas (16-5, 1.07 ERA) will start on Saturday and Sunday. Senior Ali Schmidt (9-2, 1.50 ERA) will also start during Saturday's doubleheader.
UCF, one of just 17 teams in the nation with at least 30 wins, improved its record this week by defeating Florida 2-0. The Knights began the week receiving votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball top 25 poll and appear atop many statistical categories in C-USA, including triples (16), ERA (1.49), opposing batting average (.207) and home runs allowed (16).