ORLANDO – The UCF softball team swept its Saturday doubleheader, beating South Carolina 5-4 in walk off fashion, followed with an 11-2 win over FGCU. Jada Cody and Ashleigh Griffin led the way for the Knights as they combined to go 7-for-11 with two homers and 12 RBI between both games.
"I think we swung more comfortably today," said head coach Cindy Ball-Malone. "I'd still like to see us sure up some things on defense. We had good pitching performances. Gianna came in with two walks to start off the game but really settled in and I like how she threw against South Carolina. Angelina came in to slow things down and just did her thing."
GAME ONE
South Carolina drew two walks to begin the contest and were threatening early. After a mound visit, Gianna Mancha struck out the next two batters and was looking to escape unharmed. South Carolina's Riley Blampied hit a soft flare just beyond the infield, giving the Gamecocks a 1-0 lead.
South Carolina added another run in the following inning as the leadoff runner once again came around to score on a Carlie Henderson ground out.
UCF took the lead with one swing of the bat in the fourth as Cody launched her second homer in less than 24 hours. Johneisha Rowe had climbed aboard on an error while Kennedy Searcy followed with a walk, setting up Cody's three-run shot.
The Gamecocks tied things up in the following half inning, as one ricocheted off of Mancha in the circle and redirected over to third, where the throw to first allowed the South Carolina runner to score.
Cody regained the lead for the Knights in the bottom of the fifth, singling up the middle for her fourth RBI of the game.
UCF brought a 4-3 lead into the top of the seventh but saw South Carolina push across the tying run on a sacrifice fly to deep center.
Cody climbed aboard for the third time in four plate appearances, this time drawing a walk with one out in the top of the seventh. Shannon Doherty followed suit, drawing a four pitch walk to put two runners on. With a 1-2 count, Griffin got a hold of one, smashing it into the right-center field gap to score the winning run and seal UCF's third walk-off victory of the season.
GAME TWO
Griffin picked up right where she left off in game one, smashing one to left center to drive in a run and give UCF the early 1-0 lead.
FGCU evened the game up at one all with a soft single down the left field line, chasing starter Grace Jewell. She finished the contests with 2.1 innings of work, striking out one and walking one, allowing five hits and one earned. Angelina DeVoe came in relief and escaped the jam.
The Knights got that run back and more in the home half of the third as Doherty laced one past the shortstop, driving in Denali Schappacher, who worked a walk earlier in the inning. Next up was griffin, who stayed hot at the plate, smashing a double into the right-center field gap, scoring Doherty all the way from first.
FGCU took a run back in the top of the fourth, as Cana Davis sent one back up the middle, scoring one. Rowe picked up the ball in center and fired a throw to home that was perfectly on target, erasing the potential tying run, keeping the score at 3-2.
The Knights added another pair in the bottom of the fourth, as Cody continued to swing a hot bat, doubling to left field to tally another two RBI, making it 5-2.
DeVoe kept FGCU scoreless in the fifth, the first zero on the scoreboard since the bottom of the second. She finished the night with 2.2 innings pitched, earning her first career strikeout while walking none, allowing four hits and an earned run.
UCF plated six runs in their half of the fifth with two swings of the bat. Maddie Bejarano rocketed a three-run shot way beyond the centerfield wall, her second homer of the weekend, to put UCF up 8-2. Cody followed suit with her second home run of the day, crushing a no doubter to left and collecting another three RBI, sending UCF home with an 11-2 run-rule walk-off victory.
Cody finished the day by going 4-for-7 with two homers and 9 RBI across both games, bringing her RBI total to 27 this season. Coming into the weekend, the national leader in RBI, Erin Coffell of Kentucky, had a total of 26. Cody can potentially be near the top of the national rankings by the end of the weekend after all is said and done. The sophomore now has four homers on the season, three of them this weekend, which leads the Knights. Doherty and Bejarano are just behind Cody with three long balls apiece.
"She really stuck to the process," said Ball-Malone on Cody. "She's been grinding through a few struggles and really understanding that people are going to pitch her differently. Once she started to figure that out and stay more patient and let the game come to her, she's very tough to beat."
UCF was out-hit by both opposing teams, but sill posted plenty of runs. Coming into today, the Knights were 0-5 when getting out-hit by the opposition.
UP NEXT
The Black and Gold concluded their two-game set with South Carolina by splitting it one a side. UCF improves to 7-3 all-time against the Gamecocks. The Knights are now 10-1 all-time against FGCU and will face them one more time tomorrow morning before heading for their week-long west coast swing. First pitch from the UCF Softball Complex is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. tomorrow.
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