#23 UCF Wins Game One of War On I-4#23 UCF Wins Game One of War On I-4

#23 UCF Wins Game One of War On I-4

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TAMPA, Fla. – The No. 23 UCF softball team won its 16th straight game and opened American Athletic Conference play with a statement win over South Florida, beating the Bulls 5-2. The 16 consecutive wins is the second longest winning streak in program history.

"We were swinging early, but some of the pitches we swung at we needed to lay off of," said head coach Cindy Ball-Malone. "Once we started to do that, I liked the pressure we put on them. Corrick pitched to Jada and Shannon really well. I liked that they saw a lot of pitches and that just passes it to the five, six and seven hitters who chipped away. That speaks to our lineup, one through nine we're pretty potent."

South Florida was first on the scoreboard as Alexis Johns drew a leadoff walk. She stole second and advanced to third on a groundout. Another Bull reached and South Florida was able to execute the double steal, plating the first run of the game. Their pitcher, Georgina Corrick, helped herself out with a leadoff homer in the second to give South Florida a 2-0 lead.

Corrick was perfect one time through the Knights' order but started to run into trouble in the second go-around. Kennedy Searcy was the first runner to reach base, singling up the middle, but was eventually stranded to end the top of the fourth.

The Knights jumped on South Florida's ace in the fifth inning, putting two leadoff runners on via an Ashleigh Griffin single and a Denali Schappacher double. With one out in the inning, chaos ensued for the Bulls. Justene Molina chopped a ball that was perfectly placed between the shortstop and third base, allowing Damaria Cannon, who pinch ran for Griffin, to score. The Bulls infield was fumbling with the ball, which allowed Schappacher to make a move toward home. The throw beat her by a mile, but Schappacher showed an incredible display of control and slid by the catcher and lunged back to touch home to tie the ballgame. Molina was out trying to wheel around from first on the play at third.

UCF went on top in its half of the sixth inning as Searcy smashed a high riseball way beyond the left field fence for her fourth home run of the year and a 3-2 lead over the Bulls.

The Knights added some insurance in the top of the seventh inning. With Corrick still in the circle, three straight UCF batters reached base to plate another two runs. Schappacher led off the inning with a single followed by Maddie Bejarano who did the same. Molina continued to cause problems for the Bulls, doubling to right-center field to earn her four RBI on the day.

While the Black and Gold's offense was giving South Florida fits, Gianna Mancha was doing the same to the Bulls from the circle. She was lights out after surrendering a run in each of the first two innings, retiring 13 straight batters starting in the bottom of the third. She went on to earn nine strikeouts, just one shy of tying her season high as she picked up her 11th win.

"Even though they scored in the first and second innings, she only allowed two hits," said Ball-Malone. "She kind of danced around the plate a little bit but once she settled in, it was the Gianna show."

Searcy extends her on base streak to 17 games, which is now a team high after Shannon Doherty's 18-game on base streak was snapped. Thanks to Searcy, the Knights have now homered in five straight contests, a season high.

South Florida's Corrick entered the day with a 0.14 ERA, allowing just three earned runs over 148.0 innings pitched. The Knights' more than doubled her ERA, bumping it up to 0.36 and putting five earned runs on her line. Corrick had only allowed three home runs before Searcy's blast. The eight hits that UCF collected was the highest that Corrick had surrendered this season as her record now sits at 22-2.

The Black and Gold's 16-straight wins is the second longest winning streak in program history. The streak is creeping up on the Knights' program long 21-game winning streak which was accomplished in 2002, the first season of UCF softball.

UCF is now two wins away from tying the all-time series with South Florida, as the count currently favors the Bulls 19-17. The Knights have been victorious over South Florida in five straight meetings.

UCF leads the all-sports War On I-4 tally by a count of 35-12 after adding two points to the total with Friday's victory. Each game in the remainder of the series will also be worth two points.

UP NEXT
The Knights will continue their series with the Bulls tomorrow at 6 p.m., followed by the series finale on Sunday at 4 p.m.

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