| GAME ONE Friday, May 6, 7:00 p.m. ET WATCH | LIVE STATS | GAME TWO Saturday, May 7, 2:00 p.m. ET WATCH | LIVE STATS | GAME THREE Sunday, May 8, 1:00 p.m. ET WATCH | LIVE STATS |
ORLANDO – The No. 19 UCF softball team is set to wrap up its 2022 regular season slate this weekend as they visit Wichita State for a three-game set. The winner of this series will be crowned regular season conference champions, as the two teams enter the weekend separated by just a single game at the top of the American Athletic Conference Standings. The two teams are already locked in for a top-two seeing at the conference tournament, but the one seed will be awarded a bye, putting even more emphasis on the series.
The Black and Gold enter the weekend in first place in The American, posting a 14-1 conference record so far to go along with an overall record of 42-11. The 42 victories are a team high since head coach Cindy Ball-Malone's arrival at UCF and is the most since 2015. A series win would earn the Knights another similarity with that 2015 squad, becoming champs of The American for the first time since that season. The 2015 squad won the regular season and the conference tournament that year and is the most recent title won by the Black and Gold.
The series against Wichita is one that will be watched closely across the country, as the Shockers boast National Player of the Week Addison Barnard as well as an offense that is red-hot. Wichita State is third in the country in team batting average with a .354 mark. They're second in the nation in slugging percentage (.441), on base percentage (6.93) and runs per game (8.27).
The Knights are no slouches with the sticks at the plate themselves, batting .299 this season as a team, ranking 43rd in the country. UCF is fourth in walks in the country, tallying 207 so far. The amount of walks along with a top 50 batting average has the Knights ranked 15th in the country in on base percentage.
Wichita State has struggled in the circle this season, posting a 4.12 ERA as a team, placing them 188th in the country and see opponents hit .272 against them.
On the flip side, the Knights have been dominant from the circle and have posted a 0.88 ERA in conference play. Gianna Mancha and Kama Woodall have shut down the opposition, working a combined 91.2 innings in conference play with 77 strikeouts, a record of 13-1 and a 0.76 ERA. The two combined for a no-hitter their last time out, with Mancha working 4.2 innings of the 8-0 six-inning route of Tulsa in the series finale. Woodall came in and retired the final batter in the fifth and proceeded to strikeout the side in the sixth.
Jada Cody inched a little closer to UCF's single-season RBI record over the weekend and now sits at 62, needing just five more to overtake Stephanie Best's mark of 66 set in 2003. She continues to lead the Knights in batting average, posting a .352 mark, which currently has her tied for eighth on UCF's single season batting average list. Shannon Doherty had a solid weekend against Tulsa, tallying four hits, two of them doubles, and collecting four RBI in the process. She's creeping up on the top 10 of UCF's single season RBI list, needing eight more to climb into a tie of tenth. Doherty, along with Mancha, landed on the conference's weekly honor roll.
UCF's bats came to life in game three of the series against Tulsa as the team posted 14 hits in the contest. It's the first time that the Knights have collected that many hits since Feb. 27 when the Black and Gold fell to Florida in a 12-11 shootout.
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