ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) - Courtney Rotton delivered a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to give the Knights the 2-1 victory and the series sweep over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane on Sunday afternoon.
Alea White received the third consecutive start in the circle for UCF, allowing one earned run and striking out six for her 16th win of the season. Her three-straight starts in the series is the first time in program history that a pitcher has started every game in a three-game series.
The Knights improve to 21-12 overall on the season and begin conference play 3-0.
It was a duel in the circle for the majority of the matchup with Tulsa's Emily Watson and White each putting up zeros on the scoreboard through six. White came up big in the fourth inning, striking out the side. She tallied 13 strikeouts total in the series.
Tulsa broke through first, finally plating a run off White in the sixth. The Golden Hurricane added a pair of singles and scored on a sacrifice fly in foul territory to push ahead of the Knights, 1-0.
With the Knights hungry for the sweep, Denali Schappacher drew a one-out walk to put the tying run on first. Aubrey Johnson then flied out to right field to bring Rotton to the plate with two outs. With a 1-1 count, Rotton crushed her third home run of the year to left field to give the Knights a 2-1 lead.
White retired in the side in the seventh to complete the sweep, as she held the Golden Hurricane to just two earned runs, striking out a total of 13 in her 21 innings in the series, while earning all three victories, including one shutout. White leads all American Athletic Conference pitchers in wins with 16.
ON DECK
The Knights close out the eight-game home stand with a night game against Bethune-Cookman at the UCF Softball Complex on Tuesday, March 27 at 6 p.m.
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