ORLANDO – UCF senior starting pitcher Alea White capped off her final weekend at the UCF Softball Complex by earning American Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week honors, the conference announced on Monday.
The honor comes following a weekend in which White started three of the Knights' four games, helping UCF secure the series victory over South Florida.
White turned in 18.2 innings without allowing a single earned run over the weekend. She also struck out more batters (11) than she allowed hits (10), finishing the weekend with a 2-1 record. White would have thrown complete games in every game she appeared in had she not been pulled with one out remaining in the final game, but she was pulled for good reason as she was able to walk off to a standing ovation one last time at home.
In her last career home start on Sunday, White tossed 6.2 shutout innings, striking out six and allowing just three hits.
The Pitcher of the Week award marks White's third of the year and 12th of her career.
"We're so proud of our girl [Alea]," said head coach Cindy Ball-Malone. "She dominated the weekend and closing out her career with this honor is special, especially considering it came following a series victory over South Florida to cap off the season. Alea has been the heart and soul of this program and we can't think of a better exclamation point going into post season."
A four-time AAC All-Academic honoree, White graduated from UCF in 2020 with a degree in Sport & Exercise Science and is currently working on acquiring her Master's degree in Kinesiology.
Also earning conference honors, Allyse Volpe was named to the league's honor roll for the first time this season. Volpe was a spark at the top of the Knights' lineup over the weekend, securing a hit in every game and going 3-for-4 in her final two games of the weekend. In total, the first-year Knight was 8-for-12 with four runs scored, a double and an RBI. She helped UCF outscore the Bulls 15-6 to secure the series victory.
With another successful regular season in the books, the Knights will next turn their attention to the AAC championship tournament, which will take place from May 13-15 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Knights, who were the 2015 American tournament champions, also finished as the event runner-up in 2014. They will collide with East Carolina, whom UCF swept in four games in Greenville on April 9-11, in the tournament's opening game on May 13 at 12 p.m. (ET) on ESPN+.
Below is the list of Knights to earn conference Player/Pitcher of the Week awards in 2021:
Name Date
Jazmine Esparza 02/22
Alea White 02/22
Gianna Mancha 03/08
Gianna Mancha 03/15
Alea White 04/12
Jada Cody 04/26
Alea White 05/10
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