Cruising To Cali

ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF Knights travel to the West Coast to compete in the San Diego Classic facing off with San Diego State, Long Beach State, UCLA, and Santa Clara. The Knights are 9-6 overall heading into the weekend.

The first game of the San Diego Classic will take place on Thursday, March 1st as the Knights battle the Aztecs for only the third time in program history at 9 p.m. ET. Friday will feature a double header for UCF first taking on Long Beach State at 2:30 p.m. ET followed by a match with No.3/4 UCLA at 10 p.m. ET. The Knights will wrap up the Classic with a duel with the winless Santa Clara Broncos of the West Coast Conference.  

UCF has been flaunting their defense in the first 15 games of the season and are top 35 nationally and sit atop The American in double plays turned. The Knights also lead the conference and are top 70 in the country with a .969 fielding percentage.  

THE FIELD
San Diego State: 6-10 this season; 0-2 in the series with the last meeting taking place in 2012
Long Beach State: 12-3 on the year; 1-2 against the 49ers and played all three games in Honolulu, HI
UCLA: 15-0 this year; 0-5 in battling the Bruins
Santa Clara: 0-9 in 2018; First ever meeting with the Broncos

RECAPPING LAST WEEKEND
The UCF softball program and Head Coach Renee Luers-Gillispie earned their 600th victory with the 5-3 win over Jacksonville on Sunday. The Knights went 3-2 in the Green and Gold Classic defeating Penn State (4-0), Western Carolina (8-0), and Jacksonville (5-3). With the victories, Luers-Gillespie also surpassed 800 NCAA wins in her head coaching tenure.

Aubrey Johnson of the UCF Knights softball team was awarded the American Honor Roll recognition this week for her performance last week on the diamond. The sophomore hit .400 with a home run, four RBI, four runs and a stolen base while drawing three walks and reaching on a pair of hit by pitches. She recorded at least one hit in five of the six games as the Knights grabbed four wins.

Hayley Bejarano paced the Knights with a .455 batting average with five hits, two runs, and an RBI, while Kaitlyn Jensen hit .357 picking up a pair of doubles, two RBI, and a trio of walks. Denali Schappacher went 4-for-4 in the trounce over Western Carolina while scoring six runs and stealing two bases.

Sophomore pitcher Alea White threw 20.0 innings picking up a pair of wins including a shutout against the Nittany Lions. She capped off the weekend with a 2.10 earned run average allowing only six runs and striking out 13. Kamryn Toney collected her first win of the 2018 campaign shutting out Wester Carolina where she allowed only one hit and struck out four.

SEASON TICKETS
Season tickets for the highly-anticipated 2018 softball season are currently on sale. General admission tickets to all 21 home games are priced at $50 for adults and $25 for ages 2-17. Click here or call (407) 832-1000 for additional ticketing information.

WATCH LIVE ALL SEASON
All UCF softball home games are broadcast live on UCFKnights.TV for only $7.99 a month! Sign up here to catch every pitch from the remaining 18 home games!

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