HOUSTON, Texas (UCFKnights.com) - Alea White recorded her 17th win and sixth shutout of the season after blanking Houston, 3-0 Thursday evening to give the Knights their fifth straight win.
White allowed only three hits while striking out three and walking a pair in the win as she moves to 17- on the year.
Hayley Bejarano went 2-for-3, while Denali Schappacher went 1-for-4 with an RBI and a run. Aubrey Johnson added a hit and an RBI for the Knights in the series opener.
UCF moves to 23-12 overall and 4-0 in the American Athletic Conference, while Houston drops to 21-11 overall and 2-2 in conference play.
The Cougars threatened in the bottom of the second with a runner on third and only one out. White struckout the next two Cougars to retire the side and ended the inning unharmed.
Bejarano recorded the first hit of the game in the third with a single up the middle, but that was all from the Knights offensively.
In the fourth, the Knights threatened again with a pair of singles from Courtney Rotton and Cassady Brewer. Kaitlyn Jensen moved the runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, but the Cougars retired the side and the score remained 0-0 through four.
The bats heated up for UCF in the seventh when Kyra Klarkowski reached on a Houston miscue. Bejarano answered with a single to right field and Klarkowski advanced to third. Schappacher drove in the first UCF run with an infield single plating Klarkowski.
With the Knights up 1-0 in the seventh, Johnson roped a single to left center field and pushed another Knight across to extend their lead to 2-0. The Knights crossed the plate one more time in the seventh after Rotton reached on another Cougar error allowing Schappacher to score and make it 3-0.
ON DECK
The series continues between the Knights and the Cougars on Friday at 7 p.m. EST. The contest will be featured on the American Digital Network and streamed on Facebook Live.
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