TULSA, Okla. – As it has many times already throughout the 2023 campaign, the roommate connection of Chloe Evans and Sarah Willis once more led the (RV) UCF softball team to a convincing victory.
In helping the Knights (26-18, 5-2 AAC) to their seventh consecutive win and 26th of the year, an 8-1 decision in the series-opener against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane Friday evening, Evans racked up a career-high-tying four RBI and Willis turned in another dominant six-inning start to keep the home team at bay.
The Knights also recorded their second win streak of seven or more games this season, a feat achieved by the team for the second straight year after also doing so in their 49-14 campaign last year. Prior to 2022, the last time a Knights squad had produced multiple seven-plus-game win streaks was during the program's impressive 50-9 season in 2015.
"I think that people are way more confident lately," Evans said. "I think that people are really putting things together, putting the ball in play. We're putting a lot more pressure on the defense, we're getting hard hits. Our offense has started to grow in itself and everyone's just becoming more relaxed in the box and ready to hit, attacking more strikes."
The junior transfer outfielder enjoyed a standout day at the plate, driving in four runs for the second time this season and sixth time in her career on the strength of a pair of extra-base hits, including her fifth home run and season-high 12th double of the year.
She atoned for an early throwing error in the bottom of the first inning that allowed Tulsa (16-22, 2-5 AAC) to break the ice with the first run of the game, coming through in her second plate appearance in the third frame with a two-run homer that ricocheted off the left-center field videoboard and gave the Knights a 2-1 advantage.
Evans also later swatted her 12th two-bagger of the season, the first time in her career she's reached the mark, down the left field line in the top of the seventh inning to score a pair of insurance runs that would extend the Knights' lead to 7-1.
The Wisconsin native has represented one of the Knights' best hitters throughout the season and during the team's current win streak, as she has gone 10-for-23 with a now-four-game hit streak and four multi-hit games in the Knights' last seven contests.
Evans has also pushed her team-leading season slashline up to .336/.397/.634 with a 1.031 OPS, 21 extra-base hits, 34 RBI and 83 total bases, all representing the best marks among the squad. Her .634 slugging percentage would also rank sixth-best in a single season in program history (min. 100 at-bats).
"Today I just felt super confident at the plate, and going off of Tuesday, I said that I felt a lot more confident in my swing, and that's carried on to today and through practice this last week," Evans added. "I feel a lot more confident in the box again and knowing that I need to drive in more runs. Just owning myself in the box and doing everything I can to help our pitchers out."
In the moments following Evans' two-run homer in the third, veteran first baseman Shannon Doherty made more UCF softball history herself. She was hit by a pitch for the team-leading fourth time this season and 27th in her career, marking the most of any Knight in their career in program history and breaking a tie with Vanessa Perez atop the UCF all-time hit by pitch leaderboard.
The Knights' late offensive surge only strengthened as the evening wore on. Sophomore Savannah Adams, getting the start at DP Friday, crushed her fifth homer of the season to kick off a two-run fifth inning, and the Knights pushed four more across in the seventh.
Center fielder Johneisha Rowe drove a single back up the middle to send home Micaela Macario, and after Evans' two-run double, Katie Burge scored UCF's final tally on a Golden Hurricane wild pitch.
The support was more than enough for Willis, who shook off Tulsa's first-inning run with relative ease. She cruised through perfect second and third innings, and after allowing back-to-back singles to start the fourth, she struck out the next three hitters to escape the jam.
"I love playing in the outfield behind Sarah," Evans added. "She's so competitive, she always wants to win every pitch. She's always throwing her arms up in the air, she's excited about something after every ball. She's been working really hard in the bullpen. She's going at the hitters and she's ready to compete in every single inning and every single pitch."
Willis collected two more strikeouts in the fifth and sixth innings to finish her start with eight, one shy of tying her season-high nine against Fresno State March 2. She also overtook Grace Jewell for the team-lead in ERA, now boasting a season mark of 2.13 through her first 23 appearances (16 starts).
Left-hander Angelina DeVoe entered in relief and spun a scoreless seventh inning, putting the finishing touches on UCF's series-opening win.
UP NEXT
The Knights and Golden Hurricane will square off in the second of the teams' three-game weekend series Saturday afternoon, with first pitch from Collins Family Softball Complex scheduled for 3 p.m. ET.
