ORLANDO – The series ended in virtually the same fashion in which it began.
Right-hander Sarah Willis owned the circle and right fielder Chloe Evans was at the center of the game-winning play at the dish, as the UCF softball team topped its rival South Florida Bulls, 2-0, to sweep the three-game 2023 War on I-4 series at the UCF Softball Complex.
The team's victory, its fourth straight overall and 11th in its last 12 games, marked the first time in program history the Knights pulled off a sweep of the Bulls at home, as well as its 11th consecutive victory over South Florida overall to move to 23-19 in 42 all-time meetings between the two schools. UCF also clinched the 800th win in program history with its 30th victory of the season.
"That was super exciting," Evans said of the win and series sweep. "Obviously this is a big rivalry game, our last one in the conference. It's really important that we came out and gave it our all. These were close games, all three games, and making this our 800th win was really important against the Bulls, so that was really cool."
In keeping with the pitchers' duel theme of the weekend's first two contests, it seemed fitting that the series finale was a two-run game decided in the bottom of the sixth inning of a scoreless affair. Following six dominant frames authored by Willis, the Knights (30-19, 9-3 AAC) rallied in the sixth inning or later for the second time in their last three games.
Center fielder Johneisha Rowe gave UCF the leadoff baserunner it needed with a single to left field and advanced 60 feet on a sacrifice bunt by left fielder Kennedy Searcy. The Bulls (27-22, 6-6 AAC) gave third baseman Jada Cody the intentional free pass, and after Aubrey Evans popped out, Chloe Evans strode to the plate with a chance to be the hero for the second time in the series.
The junior transfer put the ball in play, singling on a ground ball to South Florida shortstop Kathy Garcia-Soto, who made a good throw to first base that was not fielded cleanly by Alyssa Rano.
The ball dribbled into foul territory, allowing Rowe and Cody to plate the first, and only, two runs of the contest, lifting the Knights to an emotional, sweep-clinching win.
"In that last at-bat, I knew that in that moment I needed to just do my job and put the ball in play and make their defense work," Chloe Evans said. "We were hitting a lot of fly balls, and I think just trying to put the ball on the ground, move the runners as best I can and going all out for that ball and trying to beat it at first, that was really all my plan was in that at-bat."
The play marked the second time in three games over the weekend that the Seymour, Wisconsin, native produced a game-winning run, after she ended the Knights' 2-1 Friday win with a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning to give UCF its first win in extra innings this year.
As had been the case during the weekend's first two contests, the combination of Willis and fellow right-hander Grace Jewell was too much for the Bulls to handle in the circle. Willis worked six masterful innings, striking out four and tiptoeing around traffic on the basepaths throughout the afternoon.
She worked around a two-out walk in the first inning and stranded a pair of runners in the second with a perfectly-executed changeup to strike out second baseman Megan Pierro.
After spinning perfect third and fourth innings, at one point retiring nine consecutive hitters, Willis again stifled a potential Bulls rally in the fifth with another patented changeup that froze pinch-hitter Rian Eigenmann for her fourth strikeout of the afternoon.
"It was the second pitch I learned after my fastball," Willis said of her changeup. "I've been working on it since I was seven years old. It's just developed into its own thing and it's like my signature thing now."
The right-hander capped her strong afternoon in emphatic fashion, putting to bed another South Florida threat, this time with the bases loaded. A pair of two-out walks following a leadoff single again put the UCF faithful on the edge of their seats, but Willis escaped the threat inducing a lineout to second baseman Micaela Macario.
Head coach Cindy Ball-Malone opted for Jewell, Saturday's starter, to record the game's final three outs in the seventh. The right-hander worked around a leadoff hit-by-pitch and a fielding error by shortstop Jasmine Williams, striking out designated player-turned-pitcher Vivian Ponn to record her third save of the season.
Upon the conclusion of the three-game series, the tandem of Jewell, Willis, Kaitlyn Felton and Angelina DeVoe combined to post a 0.64 ERA in 22 innings of work against the team's western rivals, yielding a combined two earned runs while striking out 16 and limiting the Bulls to a collective .130 batting average-against.
Individually, Willis added on to an already-impressive debut season in Orlando, recording her third start in her last four appearances of at least six innings pitched and one or fewer runs allowed and her seventh such start of the campaign. She lowered her team-best ERA to 1.94 (97.2 IP, 27 ER) in 26 appearances, racking up a team-high 90 strikeouts while limiting her opposition to a .198 batting average-against.
"All four of them really threw great this weekend," Ball-Malone said of her pitching staff. "It's going to be important when we go and face these teams again in the conference tournament. If we can have all four of them doing their thing, it's going to be really hard to beat us."
UP NEXT
The Knights will use the next week to prepare for their final home series of the 2023 season against the Houston Cougars. The three-game set is scheduled to start with a 6 p.m. first pitch Friday evening followed by 4 p.m. and 12 p.m. tilts Saturday and Sunday.