Fri., Mar. 4, 4:30 & 7:00 p.m. ET | Fri., Mar. 5, 2:30 & 5:00 p.m. ET South Carolina vs. #24 UCF WATCH | LIVE STATS FGCU vs. #24 UCF WATCH | LIVE STATS | Fri., Mar. 6, 11:30 a.m. ET FGCU vs. #24 UCF WATCH | LIVE STATS |
ORLANDO – The No. 24 UCF softball team is set for another weekend at the UCF Softball Complex as it will host South Carolina for two games and FGCU for three.
The Knights jumped back into the NFCA and USA Softball rankings this week, checking in at No. 24 and No. 25 respectively. UCF started the season by receiving votes in both of college softball's major polls before climbing into all four a week later after an impressive start to 2022. Both the NFCA and the USA Softball Top 25 have UCF re-entering their polls this week after the Knights posted a handful of solid victories. The Knights posted a 4-1 record this past weekend in The Knights Classic with the team's lone loss coming to No. 4 Florida in a 12-11 contest. UCF began the tournament in style, coming from down 3-1 to beat Ole Miss on a walk-off moonshot by Shannon Doherty in the bottom of the seventh. The Black and Gold followed that performance with two shutouts in a double header, beating James Madison 11-0 and DePaul 2-0. Micaela Macario had six RBI against James Madison while Kaitlyn Felton earned the first complete game shutouts of her career. Grace Jewell accomplished the same feat, striking out six and shutting down DePaul. The Knights wrapped up the tournament on Monday as Gianna Mancha struck out eight Golden Grizzlies in a 3-0 win over Oakland.
All told, the Knights have tossed four shutouts in their last six games, with Mancha pitching two of them, one against FIU and the other while facing Oakland. Mancha has two one-hitters this season, holding the Panthers as well as Longwood to just a single base hit. The Black and Gold have five shutouts in 2022 which ranks 17th in the country. They are four shutouts away from Oklahoma and Stanford who lead the nation with nine.
Not to be overlooked in the four shutout performances are the bats and the patience they've shown at the plate. UCF is third in the country in walks, drawing 76 free passes in total, just seven behind a tie for the national lead. In the game against Florida alone, the Knights walked nine times, but also earned six doubles, smacking three in a row at one point in the contest to take a 9-8 lead. The Black and Gold are 21st in the country in two-baggers, tallying a total of 24.
South Carolina enters the weekend on a bit of a hot streak, going 7-3 over their last 10 games to improve their overall record to 10-5. They've played one ranked opponent so far this season, falling 5-3 in a tight contest with No. 7 Virginia Tech. After going 0-3 in the Carolina Classic against the Hokies, Miami University and Ohio State, the Gamecocks swept a Wednesday double header over Charleston Southern, earning 16-2 and 5-2 victories.
The Gamecocks are ranked in the top 50 nationally in some major hitting categories, including 27th in on base percentage (.410), 27th in runs scored per game (6.33) and 45th in batting average (.311). Katie Prebble leads the team in home runs and RBI, collecting five and 14 respectively.
FGCU is also coming off a Wednesday double header, as they fell in two close contests with South Florida, who recently fell out of the NFCA Top 25. The two sides went scoreless for 10 innings before the Bulls posted a five spot on the Eagles in the top of the 11th and went on to win 5-0. The second game of the double header saw FGCU fall by a score of 6-3.
The Eagles have been in some close games recently but haven't been able to come out on top, losing six straight and going 2-8 over their last 10, bringing their overall record to 7-11. FGCU made a statement early in the season by beating then No. 8 Texas 6-4 in their third game of the season. They narrowly lost to Notre Dame twice last week falling 2-1 and 6-4 to an Irish team that is now 25th in the latest NFCA poll.
The Eagles have a team batting average of .256 entering the weekend, placing them 153rd in the country. They post 3.47 runs a game, 195th in the country, and reach base at a .315 clip, 209th in the nation.
The Knights will host two neutral site matchups between FGCU and South Carolina, with those taking place Satruday at noon and Sunday at 9:00 a.m.
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