ORLANDO, Fla. – The (RV) UCF Knights softball squad has regularly drawn matchups with top-tier talent throughout the first three weeks of its 2023 schedule, and yet its most challenging test of the young season thus far is still on the quickly-approaching horizon.
Following a 4-1 showing during the 2023 Knights Classic tournament hosted at the UCF Softball Complex last weekend, the Knights are now readying for participation in the 2023 Judi Garman Classic tournament in Fullerton, California March 2-4. The weekend includes the first five games of a six-game road trip for the Knights and features a date with, among others, the consensus No. 1 team in the nation in last week's top 25 rankings release in the UCLA Bruins.
UCF will also square off against Fresno State, (RV) Michigan for the second time this season, LMU and Cal State Fullerton to conclude the weekend festivities Saturday night.
The Knights will travel to California riding wins in four of their last five games, a stretch that has helped right the ship for UCF and give the team positive momentum following a 2-5 skid Feb. 17-22.
Over the weekend, the Knights swept a doubleheader against the Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs with convincing 8-0 and 10-2 run-rule victories, rallied for a 4-3 comeback win over the (RV) Louisville Cardinals and surged past the Purdue Boilermakers, 6-3, before falling by a 15-5 final score to the Cardinals in the weekend finale Sunday afternoon.
UCF over the last week was led by sophomore utility player Savannah Adams, who for her efforts was named American Athletic Conference Player of the Week on Monday for the first time in her young collegiate career.
In her last six games, five of which she started, Adams slashed .583/.583/1.417 (7-for-12) with an OPS of 2.000, four extra-base hits (one double and three home runs), six RBI, 17 total bases and four runs scored while striking out only twice to secure her weekly honor. The La Mirada, California, native was recognized for the second time this season after earning weekly Honor Roll honors from the conference as part of its week two awards.
UCF to this point has also benefitted from standout production from both Evans on its 25-player roster, Chloe and Aubrey. Both represent newcomers to the program as well, with Chloe joining as a junior transfer from Minnesota and Aubrey beginning her collegiate career as a freshman.
Chloe has been the team's leading hitter throughout the season, sporting a team-leading .360 average and an OPS of 1.169 among players with at least two at-bats and 75 percent of team games played.
She has hit safely in all but three of her first 17 games in a Knights uniform, including four multi-hit games and four multi-RBI games, and will look to build upon a six-game on-base streak that is just two games shy of tying her career-long.
Aubrey, meanwhile, has enjoyed an impressive start to her collegiate career, hitting .333/.438/.481 (9-for-27) with three extra-base hits and 13 total bases through her first 14 games, 11 of which have been starts. The Apopka, Florida native has reached base safely in each of her last six games, a stretch that featured her first multi-hit game of her career against Purdue Feb. 25 and her first collegiate triple against Louisville the following afternoon.
The Knights' Friday meeting with UCLA will represent the third game in the team's previous 20 that has seen UCF square off with a consensus top two team in the nation, following the Knights' matchups with the then-top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners in the 2022 Super Regionals May 27-28, 2022.
UCLA took over the top spot in last week's rankings releases after the Sooners dropped a Feb. 19 tilt against Baylor, 4-3, and the Bruins began their season a perfect 12-0. UCLA, despite boasting a 17-1 overall record entering the weekend, most recently dropped a highly-anticipated matchup against the Sooners Sunday afternoon by a 14-0 run-rule decision in five innings.
The Bruins rank within the top 30 teams in the nation in a handful of statistical categories, including strikeout to walk ratio (7.62, 4th), batting average (.343, 17th), on-base percentage (.423, 19th), doubles (24, 22nd), slugging percentage (.524, 26th), ERA (1.73, 27th) and runs per game (6.44, 27th).
UCLA is led offensively by redshirt junior utility player Maya Brady, who through her first 18 games (17 starts) has hit .528/.590/.962 (28-for-53) with 11 extra-base hits, 19 RBI and 51 total bases. She leads the Pac-12 in average, total hits, total bases and on-base percentage, and her .962 slugging percentage ranks second in the conference and 21st nationally.
In the circle, redshirt senior pitcher/first baseman Megan Faraimo has represented the Bruins' most consistent starter, posting a 1.55 ERA in a team-leading 49.2 innings of work, a total that also ranks 13th in the country. She has collected 91 total strikeouts and 12.8 strikeouts per seven innings, both representing the top marks in the nation among hurlers with at least 40 innings pitched.
Fresno State enters the weekend 7-5 overall and riding a three-game win streak after a trio of games against UC Davis and Southern Utah were canceled. UCF is 3-0 all-time against the Bulldogs after winning both matchups a year ago by an aggregate 16-3 score.
Junior Keahilele Mattson's .424 average and 1.496 OPS lead a Fresno State offense that ranks first in the Mountain West in scoring, with 5.50 runs per game, and fourth with a .384 on-base percentage.
UCF will meet Michigan for the second time this season after topping the then-No. 25 Wolverines 8-2 in its opener of the Clearwater Invitational. Michigan, now 7-8, has gone 3-6 since falling to the Knights with a Tuesday matchup against Saint Mary's on deck before the weekend tournament.
Ellie Sieler's .351 average has paced the Wolverines to this point, accompanied by a .795 OPS, while Keke Tholl's .831 OPS ranks highest on the team among regular players. The duo of Jessica LeBeau and Lauren Derkowski have combined to handle the majority of the work in the circle thus far, posting 2.85 and 2.89 ERAs in 46.2 and 43.2 innings, respectively.
The 7-10 LMU Lions are fresh off a 3-2 showing at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Palm Springs, California, and will face the Knights for just the second time in program history and the first time since 2003. Freshman catcher Taylor Fitch paces the Lions at the plate with a .349 average and an OPS of .930, while junior Jenna Perez has been most heavily relied upon in the circle with a 3.10 ERA in a team-leading 49.2 innings.
Cal State Fullerton, which will play host for the weekend affairs, enters the weekend at 9-6 overall and 6-3 in its last nine games. UCF will meet the Titans for the fourth time in school history after going 2-1 in the previous three matchups, including an 11-2 run-rule win six innings March 12, 2022. The Titans are paced by Megan Delgadillo's .388/.423/.408 line offensively and Myka Sutherlin's 1.00 ERA and 42 strikeouts in 42 innings in the circle.
