Feb. 22, 2015
UCF Athletics Social Media Directory
By Megan Herboth
UCFKnights.com
HONOLULU, Hawaii (UCFKnights.com) - The No. 19 UCF softball team collected its second win of the day with a 4-0 victory over Hawaii at the Bank of Hawaii Invitational on Saturday afternoon.
"Our dynamic duo of Shelby and Mackenzie are just lights out," UCF head coach Renee Luers-Gillispie said. "They'll take us far this year because of their capabilities for strikeouts and shutouts. We talk a lot about that a lot, getting out and being aggressive in that first at-bat. We want to put a score on the board in the first inning to put an exclamation point on that game. They did that in this game against Hawaii."
Junior Shelby Turnier had a no-hit bid going into the seventh inning, but had it broken up after 6.2 innings of work. She struck out a season-high 13 batters, including the first six of the game. She tossed her fourth complete-game shutout, picking up her sixth win of the season in the circle.
"I was feeling really comfortable in this game," Turnier said. "It was really just a pumped-up game for us. I think we just gained a lot of confidence throughout the game."
Junior Kalyn Cenal had a hand in UCF's early scoring. She grounded out in the first, but scored senior Kahley Novak to give the Knights a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Two innings later, she hit her second home run of the weekend, a two-shot blast over the center field wall.
"It felt great," Cenal said. "I definitely knew it was going to go over. It felt like it was going over right when I hit it. It's definitely my goal to get my RBI and help the team out. Those RBIs will help us win games."
Senior Farrah Sullivan's sacrifice fly extended the UCF lead in the sixth, as freshman pinch runner Megan Greenwell tagged up for the score.
The Knights collected hits in five of the seven innings, with sophomore Linnea Goodman and Novak notching two hits apiece in the win. Novak finished the game with a pair of stolen bases, bringing her season total to seven.
UCF Softball, which is presented by City Kia, concludes its Hawaiian trip on Sunday. The Knights will be the No. 2 seed on Sunday, facing the third-seed Hawaii at 2 p.m. ET. The Black and Gold are guaranteed the 6 p.m. ET game slot, facing the winner of No. 16/17 Washington and UTEP.