GREENVILLE, N.C. – Knights right-hander Sarah Willis was masterful in shutting out the ECU Pirates in the teams' series-opener Friday evening, and Grace Jewell matched her almost pitch-for-pitch in game two.
The latter etched another chapter in her breakout junior season, tossing her team-leading fifth complete-game shutout and leading UCF (22-18, 3-2 AAC) to a 4-0 victory while also assuring her squad a series win Saturday evening at Max R. Joyner Family Stadium.
"Trusting my defense and getting ahead in the count," Jewell said of her winning gameplan. "Jamming the hitters and really my defense just had my back the entire time. Once the game is going, my nerves simmer down a little bit. I keep pushing through and realize I don't have to do too much."
The Chesapeake, Virginia, native yielded only a trio of hits and two walks while collecting five punchouts throughout the contest, her highest single-game total since her season debut against the Boise State Broncos, when she racked up a career-high seven strikeouts Feb. 10.
Already staked to a 1-0 lead thanks to an Aubrey Evans RBI single that plated Kennedy Searcy in the top of the first, Jewell produced a quick bottom half to keep the momentum on her team's side. She utilized a pair of groundouts and her first strikeout of the game to work around a two-out Pirates (22-14, 0-5 AAC) single.
Beginning with the final out of the first frame, Jewell spun spotless second, third and fourth innings and retired the first ECU hitter of the fifth, setting down 11 consecutive Pirates before yielding a pair of baserunners in the fifth inning via a hit-by-pitch and a walk.
Her fourth strikeout of the game aided her in keeping ECU off the scoreboard, and she sat down seven of the final 10 hitters she faced in wrapping up her fifth complete game of the season. In the winning effort, Jewell lowered her career-best ERA to 2.39 (82 IP, 28 ER), and through 21 appearances (14 starts) has collected a season-high 49 strikeouts and limited opposing hitters to just a .186 average.
"I think it's very crazy, but I know that all along I could have done it so it's not too crazy," Jewell said of throwing her fifth shutout. "I'm very proud of myself and my team for having my back."
The righty was supported by two RBI singles by Evans, with her second coming in the top of the third inning, again scoring Searcy, on the heels of her first-inning run-scoring knock.
The contest marked Evans' second straight two-hit game, her third in her last six games and extended her hit streak to four straight contests. Since the Knights' March 19 game against No. 2 Oklahoma State when she hit her first collegiate home run, Evans has produced a team-leading .429 (9-for-21) average in seven games, adding four extra-base hits (three doubles and one home run), 15 total bases and five RBI.
"Kennedy and Jada above me, they do a great job of getting on base, and my job is to score them," Evans said. "I was just thinking right side with the wind, trying to keep it on the ground. I felt good the first time, and then my second at-bat, same thing, didn't want to do too much. She threw me something low and outside and I just took advantage of it."
Searcy, naturally, sparked the Knights' first two runs with two walks and a stolen base, maintaining perfection in her stolen base attempts this season with her 12th bag in 12 tries.
First baseman Shannon Doherty also enjoyed a productive day at the plate, finishing 2-for-3 with her first two doubles of the season and an RBI, the 112th of her collegiate career to move to within six of tying Hillary Barrow (118 RBI) for seventh on the UCF all-time list.
"I was seeing the ball well today, that's something that I've really been working on, focusing on getting and hunting my pitches," Doherty said. "The coaches had a great plan for us and I just tried to go out and execute it."
UP NEXT
The Knights will go for the three-game sweep of the Pirates in the Sunday afternoon series finale, with first pitch from Max R. Joyner Family Stadium slated for 12 p.m.
