ORLANDO (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF football team enjoyed its annual day of softball on Wednesday morning, pitting class against class with the winners getting the ultimate test, a matchup against the coaching staff.
The morning got started with the seniors taking on the freshmen. The first-timers were up to the plate first and put up just four runs.
With a newcomer of their own pitching, Brandon Wimbush, the seniors took their turn and quickly plated the five runs they needed to move on. Led by a two-run homer by Hayden Kingston and a solo shot by Jake Brown, the seniors got it done when Kingston roped a walk-off double down the line.
The sophomores looked to represent the underclassmen next. With Jon Powell pitching, the sophomores were led by a three-run homer from Lyston Barber and a two-run inside the park home run from Josh Kelly, finishing with a total of six runs.
The juniors needed seven runs to earn a spot against the seniors and that’s exactly what they got. With Darriel Mack Jr. on the mound, the juniors got a two-run homer to dead center from Brandon Moore and another two-run shot from Alex Harris to make things close. With it knotted up at 6-6, it was Harris again, this time with a solo homer to win it for the juniors.
In the players’ championship, the juniors stepped right back up to the plate, this time with Richie Grant hurling the ball at the plate. An Anthony Roberson solo shot early on was the only highlight of the game, unfortunately, as they only mustered up four runs.
The seniors made quick work of it as Nate Evans doubled and Jake Brown brought him in with a homer. Josh McMullen then went back-to-back with Brown, adding a solo homer to right to make it 4-3. Wimbush then gave up pitching duty to hit a 2-run walk-off double to give the seniors a shot at the coaches.
With 30-something staff members manning the field, there weren’t a lot of gaps for the seniors to find, but somehow the Knights, in their final opportunity on the diamond, put up 13 runs against the coaches. Kingston hit a pair of 3-run home runs to lead the way, while Brown added a two-run shot of his own.
Kingston got up to the plate, with two men on again, but his shot down the line was snagged by Director of Football ops Billy Ray Johnson at the hot corner to save a pair of runs. The surprise of the final game might have been Nevelle Clarke, who reportedly had never made contact with the ball prior to Wednesday, went 2-for-2 to help the senior offense.
The coaches needed 13 runs to tie things up, 14 to win. Defensive line coach Shane Burnham got things started with an RBI double, tight ends coach Jon Cooper kept it going with a sac fly and new strength coach Alex Luhring gave the coaches three runs with an RBI single.
With the score at 13-4 and two on base, head coach Josh Heupel stepped to the plate. He connected on a rocket to right field, but Wimbush was there to snag it in stride, scoring just one run on the sac fly. The coaches started to get it close when quality control coach Cliff Odom hit a two-run single to make it 13-9.
Wide receivers coach Darrell Wyatt then made things very interesting down the stretch with a three-run bomb to left center, putting the coaches within one run, at 13-12. With one batter remaining, Assistant Head Coach Willie Martinez stepped to the plate. After catching for every single team on the day, he roped one to left, but in need of a home run to tie it up, that was it for the coaches.
Round 1
Seniors 5, Freshmen 4
Juniors 7, Sophomores 6
Round 2
Seniors 5, Juniors 4
Championship
Seniors 13, Coaches 12
Home Runs
Hayden Kingston – 4
Jake Brown – 3
Alex Harris – 2
Lyston Barber – 1
Josh Kelly – 1 (inside the park)
Josh McMullen – 1
Brandon Moore – 1
Anthony Roberson – 1
Darrell Wyatt – 1