CLEARWATER, Fla. – The No. 14 UCF softball team demonstrated its poise and makeup throughout its second day of play in the 2023 TaxAct Clearwater Invitational Saturday, but come the end of its two games against top 20 opponents, the Knights fell a bit short both times.
Facing off against No. 16 Duke to kick the day off at around 10 a.m. with a matchup against No. 12 Alabama lingering shortly after, the Knights took both opponents to extra innings but couldn't quite finish the job either time, falling by 4-3 and 6-5 respective final scores.
UCF took advantage of an early Blue Devils error in the top of the first inning of its first Saturday tilt, when utility/catcher Jada Cody scored on a ball put in play by right fielder Chloe Evans, but it encountered difficulties adding on for much of the contest.
The Knights had their pitching staff to thank for aiding the team in remaining in the game until their offense could muster a counterpunch to a trio of Duke runs in the bottom of the second. Freshman right-hander Katelyn Cochran, making her third appearance and first collegiate start, worked her way around a pair of walks in the first inning but couldn't find her way out of the second.
Junior righty Grace Jewell was called upon in relief, and the Chesapeake, Va., native calmed down the affairs after Duke's three runs. She pitched into the bottom of the fifth inning, retiring six of the 11 hitters she faced and working out of trouble throughout with help from her defense, which also turned a double play and caught a runner attempting to steal second.
UCF was able to break through in the top of the sixth inning, when Evans once again came through at the plate with a run-scoring double and sophomore Savannah Adams, making her first start of the young season, roped a game-tying single to right field that plated Shannon Doherty.
The RBI was Evans' 11th in her first eight games, and her double put her back in the hit column after the junior transfer went 0-for-3 against Texas A&M the previous night, marking the lone hitless game Evans had produced in her first eight games.
Adams, meanwhile, despite starting only two of her first four games, has made the most of her appearances. With her RBI single, she had collected at least one hit in each game thus far.
Angelina DeVoe was the next Knights pitcher called upon by Cindy Ball-Malone, and, in keeping with her early theme throughout early part of the season, was a steady and unwavering presence in the circle. The southpaw spun five innings of one-hit ball, collecting three strikeouts and yielding just a hit-by-pitch.
She induced a double play to escape a jam in the fifth inning, pitched perfect sixth and seventh innings, and masterfully tiptoed around the runner placed on second base in the extra eighth and ninth innings. Her five innings of work marked a career-high and lowered her season ERA to 2.06.
UCF was unable to push its go-ahead run across, though, and Duke ended the marathon contest with an RBI fielder's choice in the bottom of the 10th inning.
The Knights again enjoyed a fast start against the Crimson Tide shortly after the conclusion of their loss against Duke, plating a combined four runs in the third and fourth innings. Freshman outfielder Olivia Elliott, earning her first start of the campaign in her second appearance overall, worked a 2-2 count in her first at-bat before clubbing her first collegiate home run over the right-center field fence.
Kennedy Searcy doubled the Knights' advantage later in the frame with an RBI single, and Adams continued her strong start to the season with a solo homer in the fourth, extending her hit streak to five straight games with her first long ball of the season.
UCF added one more when Evans slid under a tag at home plate on a fielder's choice by RHP/OF Sarah Willis, but the Tide bounced right back. Alabama plated five runs in the bottom of the fourth, knocking Willis, who had started the game, as well as DeVoe, who was the first out of the bullpen, out of the circle. Ball-Malone opted for sophomore Kaitlyn Felton as UCF's second reliever of the game, who, like DeVoe in game one, calmed the game down for the next three frames.
Cody drew up an immediate counterpunch to the Tide's five-run frame, tying the game with her third home run in her last five games that also gave her at least one hit in six of her first nine games.
UCF again was unable to push ahead a potential go-ahead run, though, and Alabama ended the contest in the bottom of the eighth frame with a single up the middle.
UP NEXT
UCF will conclude the 2023 TaxAct Clearwater Invitational Sunday evening, looking to end the weekend on a high note in primetime against Mississippi State. First pitch on ESPN2 is scheduled for 8 p.m.