Knights Set for Home Opener

ORLANDO – The No. 21 ranked UCF softball team is set to continue the season with its home opener over the weekend as the Knights will invite New Mexico State University to town for a three-game series from Feb.19-21.
 
Game one is set for a 6:00 p.m. first pitch on Friday, followed by a 3:00 p.m. start on Saturday and a 1:00 p.m. matinee on Sunday,

All three games will be have live stats available and will be streamed live on ESPN+.

TICKETING/COVID-19 PROTOCOLS
Capacity for The UCF Softball Complex this season is roughly twenty-five percent of full capacity.
 
Unfortunately, due to capacity restrictions and social distancing procedures, there will be no season tickets for the 2021 season.
 
A very limited number of single-game tickets will be made available 24-48 hours prior to each home game. Single game ticket inventory will come from unclaimed visiting team and player guest ticket allotments and will vary by game.
 
Fans interested in purchasing tickets are encouraged to check their UCF Account Manager page HERE leading up to each home game for ticket availability.
 
All tickets will be $10 general admission seats. There will be NO walk-up tickets available day of game, it's online purchase only.
 
Fans will be required to wear face coverings at all times, except while actively eating or drinking. Other safety measures in place for the 2021 season include:

• Hand sanitizer stations will be located throughout the concourse
• Bathrooms and other common touch points will be cleaned and sanitized regularly
• COVID-19 signage encouraging best practices will be located throughout the facility
• Certain seating will be blocked off to encourage physical distancing

For the latest information on ticketing for 2021 UCF Softball home events, contact the ticket office at (407) 823-1000, or follow us on social at UCF Softball on Facebook (/UCFSoftball), Twitter (@UCF_Softball) and Instagram (@UCF.Softball).

THE AGGIES
The Knights are evenly split at 2-2 in their all-time series against the Aggies. UCF last faced New Mexico State in a two-game series in Orlando in 2016, coming away with both wins.
 
In 2021, the Aggies are off to a 1-3 start, with their sole victory coming in a 6-3 win over Pittsburgh. New Mexico State was off to a nice, 15-8 start in 2020 before the cancellation of the season and they finished the year winners in five out of the last seven games. That stretch included wins over then No. 17 Arizona State, Oregon State and Nebraska.

New Mexico State returned its top five hitters from the 2020 season, led by the 2019 WAC Player of the Year Nikki Butler, who chose to use her extra year of eligibility for her fifth season in the Aggie uniform. Butler hit a career-best .419 in 23 games with seven home runs and 21 RBI and was named to the 2021 Preseason All-WAC Team.
 
KNIGHT BITES
STRONG START
The Knights came out of the gates hot to start the season, posting a record 21 runs through their first two games against FGCU last weekend, including a 13-0 thrashing over the Eagles in UCF's first game of the season. On Sunday, the Knights split their second double header with FGCU to move to 3-1 on the young season. At the conclusion of opening weekend, four Knights are batting over .400 and eight are batting .300 or better.

WHITE KEEPS CLIMBING
Before the conclusion of the 2020 season, White was on pace to become UCF's all-time winningest pitcher, needing just four more wins to claim first place with 81 career victories. In UCF's opening weekend, White tacked on two more wins to move to 79 overall. White also owns several other top-10 program career records, including ERA (2.36), strikeouts per seven innings (4.85), innings pitched (767) and appearances (143) just to name a few. During the 2020 season, she tossed three complete game shutouts and was named American Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week (Feb. 10), marking the ninth time she earned the award in her career.

PICKED TO WIN
The American Athletic Conference released its 2021 Preseason Softball Coaches' Poll in January and UCF was predicted to finish first overall in the conference for the third time in program history.

The Knights, who last won AAC titles in 2014 and 2015, received six out of seven first-place votes, garnering 36 total points to claim the top spot in the poll over in-state rival South Florida. The Bulls were second with 31 points and just one first-place vote after being predicted to finish first in 2019 and 2020.

It marked the third time the Knights have been voted as the favorite to win the conference as they were also tabbed as favorites in 2015 and 2016.

THEY'RE BACK
UCF heads into 2021 with almost all of its key players returning from 2020's historic team, including seniors Alea White, Jazmine Esparza and Kyra Klarkowski, who each announced they would be returning for this season to take advantage of the extra season of eligibility granted by the NCAA after the COVID-19 pandemic forced an abrupt end to all spring sports in 2020.

BIG BOPPERS
There is no doubt that UCF has the offense to compete for a national title in 2021. In opening weekend alone, sluggers Georgia Blair and Juliana Wilson combined for six home runs and 13 RBI. They each notched their third home runs of the season on Sunday, to set a new UCF Softball record for most home runs through their team's first three games.

FOLLOW THE KNIGHTS
Stay tuned to UCF Softball on Facebook (/UCFSoftball), Twitter (@UCF_Softball) and Instagram (@UCF.Softball) for the latest on the UCF Softball team.

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