ORLANDO – After a tremendous performance this week, freshman Micaela Macario of the UCF softball team has been named the American Athletic Conference's Player of the Week. Kaitlyn Felton landed on this week's honor roll as well.
"Lala [Micaela] has really come into her own offensively over the last couple of weeks," said head coach Cindy Ball-Malone. "She has been a tough out all week and has been especially clutch with two outs. Her triple threat ability has allowed her to turn the lineup over for the top of our order and at the same time drive in the middle of our order who have all done a great job of getting on base ahead of her."
Macario went 6-for-13 at the plate with two doubles and 10 RBI this week, earning a .462 batting average and a 1.178 OPS. She also swiped her eighth bag of the season and is a perfect eight for eight in stolen bases attempts to this point. Macario came across to score five times over the five games.
The rookie collected nine of her RBI in a 24-hour span. She went two-for-three against Ole Miss with three RBI, followed by a 6 RBI performance against James Madison, a team that had been receiving votes in the latest NFCA and USA Softball polls. She had two doubles against the Dukes and was a perfect two-for-two. Her performance this week raised her batting average to .306, which is currently third highest on the team.
Felton played a big role for the Knights this week as well, appearing in the circle twice. She started the weekend with the first complete-game shutout of her career, tossing five innings while allowing just two hits while striking out five in UCF's 11-0 win over James Madison.
She came in relief late in Sunday's UCF vs. Florida game, working a near-flawless 1.1 innings in relief. The freshman struck out three while walking just one, keeping the Knights' deficit to one in the late going.
"Kaitlyn is just getting started on the path to a great career," said Ball-Malone. "She has the tools to be a dominate pitcher and has gotten stronger with every appearance this year."
Overall, she had eight strikeouts and just two hits and one walk through 6.1 innings pitched on the weekend, improving her ERA to a team-best 2.37.
The Knights have had one player named to The American's weekly honor roll in each of the first three weeks of the season. Jada Cody earned the honors in week one, batting .500 with a .1571 OPS with a double, triple, home run and eight RBI. Savannah Adams landed on the honor roll the following week, batting .444 with a double and five RBI. Felton is the first Knight pitcher of the season to earn a spot on the weekly honor roll.
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UCF is back in action tonight for the final game of The Knights Classic sponsored by Knight Pass as they host Oakland at 6 p.m.
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