ORLANDO – The UCF softball team will begin the 2023 season in just over two weeks riding the high of the first NCAA Super Regional appearance in program history, and coaching staffs from around the American Athletic Conference have taken notice.
The American has announced the results of its 2023 softball preseason coaches poll, a ranking in which the Knights finished first with a total of 34 points coming on four of seven possible first-place votes.
UCF finished one point ahead of Wichita State, which garnered 33 points on the remaining three first-place votes. South Florida (24) was ranked third, followed by Houston (23), Tulsa (14), ECU (12) and Memphis (7).
The Knights broke through to the Super Regionals a year ago following a regular season during which they went 49-14, including a 16-2 record within the conference, marking the team's winningest season since its 50-9 campaign in 2015. UCF also brought home its third conference championship and its fourth conference tournament title prior to its appearance in the NCAA tournament.
The 16th-ranked Knights swept their way through the Orlando regional bracket, topping Villanova by a 6-0 score before downing No. 24 Michigan in consecutive games by 3-2 (11 innings) and 9-4 final scores. Their journey would end in the Super Regionals, falling twice to the eventual-national champion and top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners.
Led by then-sophomore Jada Cody's program-record 75-RBI season and a pitching staff that posted a 2.30 ERA that ranked 28th in the nation, the Knights also recorded their highest post-season finish in the NFCA rankings in program history, pulling in at No. 14 in the country. The ranking also marked the second-highest overall in team history, when the Knights were ranked No. 13 in Week 15 of the 2015 season.
While the UCF pitching staff enters the season without its top two 2022 starters in Gianna Mancha and Kama Woodall, the program brings a host of new faces into the new slate who all figure to receive their chance to make their mark, including junior two-way player Sarah Willis and freshmen pitchers Macy Miles, Katelyn Cochran and Madison Applebe to join returners Kaitlyn Felton, Angelina DeVoe and Grace Jewell.
Cody returns for her encore to lead the Knights offense in 2023, as do Shannon Doherty and Kennedy Searcy, representing the top three Knights hitters from a year ago. The trio led an attack that ranked 34th in the nation in scoring offense with 5.71 runs per game and 44th in team batting average with a mark of .295.
Looking around The American from last season, UCF also ranked within the top two spots in the conference in batting average, doubles (76), ERA (2.30), on-base percentage (.397), runs per game, shutouts (18), slugging percentage (.437) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (1.97)