#20 UCF Walks-Off #5 Virginia Tech in 11 Innings#20 UCF Walks-Off #5 Virginia Tech in 11 Innings

#20 UCF Walks-Off #5 Virginia Tech in 11 Innings

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ORLANDO – The No. 20 UCF softball team earned a walk-off victory over No. 5 Virginia Tech on Monday as Shannon Doherty sent the Knights home happy with an RBI double in the bottom of the 11th inning.
 
"You've got two great pitching performances, not just our two pitchers but their two as well," said head coach Cindy Ball-Malone. "It was a fun game, it was an old school game. I loved how our defense locked down at the end. You got to see a lot of heroes, a lot of impact from a lot of different people in our lineup, so that was fun."
 
Bre Peck got the scoring going for Virginia Tech in the first by homering with one out over the left field fence, making it 1-0. The next batter was Kelsey Bennett who laced a double to center field. With two out, Jayme Bailey added an RBI single to left center, scoring Bennett from second giving the Hokies an early 2-0 lead.
 
The Black and Gold retaliated quickly though. After Doherty singled to the left side to start the second, Ashleigh Griffin launched a two-run homer clearing the left field fence by plenty, tying the game at 2-2. Griffin's home run ended the team's 18-inning scoreless streak.

With one down, Maddie Bejarano added a homer of her own off the scoreboard, making it 3-2. The pair of blasts snapped UCF's streak of three straight homerless games after previously setting a season high of seven consecutive contests. 

The two teams exchanged zeros until the top of the sixth, when Emma Ritter led off the inning for the Hokies with a single to left field. Bailey then doubled to right center, scoring Ritter from first to tie the game at three, her second RBI of the game. After a groundout advanced Bailey to third, Darby Trull singled to center field scoring Bailey, putting Virginia Tech back on top 4-3.
 
Starting pitcher Gianna Mancha was relieved from the circle after surrendering the Bailey double. She went five innings while giving up four runs and striking out three. At a point in the game, Mancha retired 10 consecutive batters. Kama Woodall came in relief and saw the go-ahead runner score on Mancha's line.
 
In the bottom half of the sixth, with two on and a runner on first, Griffin doubled down the right field line for her third RBI of the night, which tied the game again at 4-4. Her three RBI night is her first three-RBI game of the season and her fifth multi-RBI game in total. Griffin was one RBI shy of tying a career-high, set on Mar. 15 against Ohio State. 

No runs were found by either side in the seventh inning, sending the Knights into extras for the third time this season.
 
UCF's Woodall only got stronger as the extra frames piled up. After tallying a three-up-three-down eighth, she was able to navigate out of a one-out, bases loaded jam on a pair of ground-ball fielder's choices.
 
It was a pitcher's duel following that as 14 straight batters in total were retired following the runners who reached in the top of the ninth. All four of Woodall's strikeouts came in the final three frames as she finished the evening with six innings of work, allowing five hits with one walk and no earned runs.

With one out in the bottom of the 11th, Jada Cody stepped up to the plate after going 0-for-4 with four strikeouts. She turned the game around in favor of the Knights as she smashed a single down the left field line. That made way for Doherty who belted a double down the right field line, allowing Cody to be waved all the way home from first.

Doherty is now responsible for three of UCF's four walk-off wins in 2022. Prior to tonight, she blasted a homer down the left field line on opening night in UCF's 7-6, eighth inning win over No. 12 Georgia and had a three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh to beat Ole Miss 6-3.
 
The Knights are now 3-0 in extras after beating No. 12 Georgia and Texas Tech earlier in the year, both in eight innings. Monday's contest was the longest game for the Knights since the team's 0-0 tie against Wichita State which lasted exactly three hours, making it to the 11th inning before the drop-dead rule came into effect. The Virginia Tech vs. UCF series finale lasted three hours and 18 minutes and was the longest game inning-wise for either team, as the Hokies' only other extra inning game was a 1-0 win over Ohio State in nine innings.
 
The Black and Gold smacked two home runs on the night after Virginia Tech entered the series only surrendering nine this season. UCF improves to 21-1 when hitting a homer in a game, as compared to being 9-9 when they don't.
 
The victory is the first over a top 10 opponent this season and the third total over a ranked opponent, scoring wins over No. 12 Georgia and No. 11 Texas.
 
The Knights came into the contest just 2-7 when getting out-hit, but now improve to 24-1 when collecting seven or more hits. It's just the fourth time this season that UCF has had a game decided by a single run; they're now 3-1 in those contests.
 
A fresh edition of the NCAA RPI was released on Monday afternoon. Virginia Tech was at the top after entering the weekend at No. 3, with UCF slipping one spot to No. 13 this week. The Hokies also moved from No. 5 to No. 4 in D1Softball's poll.
 
UP NEXT
The Knights will travel to Jacksonville to take on North Florida on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

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