LONG BEACH, Calif. – For the second day in a row, the UCF softball team split two games as they fell to Cal State Fullerton, 7-2 before turning around and defeating Long Beach State, 6-1 Saturday at the Long Beach State Softball Complex.
"We started off slow in the first game but the positive of today was that we bounced back in a big way," said UCF Softball head coach Cindy-Ball Malone. "Both teams we played today are great teams; they're traditionally postseason teams. To be able to have that result in game one and then bounce back the way we did says a lot about this team."
UCF 2 // CAL STATE FULLERTON 7
The Knights went up early in game one but quickly lost the lead and struggled to gain it back as they went on to lose to Cal State Fullerton, 7-2.
UCF used a quartet of pitchers in the contest as Breanna Vasquez earned the start and was replaced by Alea White, Madisyn Davis and Cassidy Cangemi. In total, UCF pitchers allowed seven runs on 11 hits while striking out four. Vasquez was tagged with her first loss of the year to move to 4-1 overall.
The top two hitters in the Knights' lineup, Denali Schappacher and Georgia Blair, enjoyed nice games at the plate. Each recorded a pair of hits and Blair contributed with one of the Knights' two RBIs.
With the loss to the Titans, UCF moved to 17-5 on the year.
KEY MOMENTS
- Denali Schappacher led off the game with a triple to right field and was driven in on a Georgia Blair single to center, putting UCF up 1-0.
- The Titans struck for a pair in the second with a two-run home run to left field, putting Cal State Fullerton up 2-1.
- Cal State Fullerton added to their lead in the fourth with back-to-back RBI singles, extending their lead t 4-1.
- The Knights loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth and Justene Molina delivered with a single up the middle, driving in Takiya London to cut the Titans lead to 4-2.
- A Cal State Fullerton RBI single to center field got them their fifth run of the game in the sixth.
- Cal State Fullerton struck for two more in the seventh, scoring on a sacrifice bunt and a single to make it a 7-2 game.
UCF 6 // LBSU 1
UCF bounced back in game two, taking down Long Beach State 6-1.
Gianna Mancha led the charge for the Knights. After a tough outing in the 4-2 loss to UCLA on Friday, Mancha turned around and tossed a complete game, one run performance against LBSU to earn her fifth win of the season.
The offense came together in the win as UCF posted six runs on seven hits and six walks. Shannon Doherty went 3-for-4 at the dish, including an RBI base hit in the fourth inning. After hitting a home run in Friday's 3-2 win over No. 16 Michigan, Jazmine Esparza stayed hot against LBSU as she knocked a two-RBI double to right in the second to put UCF up 3-0. She is now batting .325 on the season.
Following the win over the Beach, UCF moved to 18-5 on the year.
KEY MOMENTS
- The Knights loaded the bases in the top of the second and a Kyra Klarkowski sacrifice fly drove in UCF's first run of the game, putting the Knights up 1-0.
- Two batters later, Jazmine Esparza knocked a double off the right field wall to drive in two more UCF runs, extending the Knights' lead to 3-0.
- Shannon Doherty knocked an RBI singled up the middle in the top of the fourth, extending the UCF lead to 4-0.
- Juliana Wilson pinch hit and doubled to center field in the seventh, driving in the fifth UCF run of the game.
- The next batter, Karissa Ornelas, singled to left to drive in a run, putting the Knights up 6-0.
- LBSU stringed together a pair of hits to score a run in the bottom of the seventh, cutting the UCF lead to 6-1.
NOTABLES
- The loss in game one marked Breanna Vasquez's first of 2020.
- Madisyn Davis and Cassidy Cangemi each made their second appearance of the season in the first game of the day.
- Shannon Doherty was 4-for-8 on the day. She is now batting .468 on the season.
ON DECK
UCF will wrap up play in the UCLA/LBSU Invitational Sunday as they will take on San Diego State at 12 p.m. and No. 18 Minnesota at 2:30 p.m at the LBSU Softball Complex in Longbeach, California. The Knights will stay in southern California for a few more days, however, as they play one-off games with CSUN and Cal State Fullerton on Monday and Wednesday, respectively.
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