ORLANDO – After the weekend she had, it was the easy choice.
As announced by the American Athletic Conference Monday afternoon, UCF softball right-hander Sarah Willis was named AAC Pitcher of the Week for her efforts throughout the Knights' weekend home series sweep of the Houston Cougars. Junior left fielder Kennedy Searcy was also honored with a selection to The American's weekly Honor Roll for the first time this season.
Willis, who has now become the first Knight this season to win multiple conference Player/Pitcher of the Week awards, was untouchable in her two weekend starts, tossing the first seven-inning perfect game in program history, and the third overall, Friday evening on just 78 pitches to lead her squad to a 7-0 win in the series-opener.
She followed with her second complete-game shutout in two days, holding the Cougars to just two hits in seven innings while collecting four strikeouts in the Knights' sweep-clinching 4-0 victory. In total, Willis threw 14 spotless innings, yielding only two hits while collecting seven strikeouts and limiting her opposition to an .047 batting average-against.
Her two starts pushed her scoreless innings streak to 26 straight, dating back to the third inning of her April 21 start against South Florida, and represented the third and fourth individual shutouts, as well as the sixth and seventh complete games, of her impressive debut season in Orlando. She had also faced 41 consecutive hitters between hits allowed, from the sixth inning of her April 23 start against South Florida to the fifth inning of her Sunday start against the Cougars.
Entering the regular season's final weekend, Willis now boasts an incredible 0.67 ERA (52 IP, 5 ER) through her first 10 appearances (nine starts) in conference play, a mark that ranks first in The American, accompanied by a 37:17 strikeout-to-walk ratio and a batting average-against of just .133, also the lowest mark in conference play.
Her 1.69 season ERA (111.2 IP, 27 ER) ranks third-best in the AAC, and her .182 batting average-against matches teammate Grace Jewell's for the lowest in the conference. The two pitchers also represent the lone pair in The American who boast BAA marks below .200.
Willis has also now yielded one run or fewer in 11 of her last 12 appearances dating back to her March 24 complete game against the conference-leading Wichita State Shockers, as well as having allowed two runs or fewer in each of said 12 appearances. The Ontario, California, native in that span has posted a glistening 0.74 ERA (56.2 IP, 6 ER), throwing five complete games, collecting 40 strikeouts and posting a .146 batting average-against.
Searcy, meanwhile, impressed at the plate throughout UCF's weekend set against Houston, recording back-to-back three-hit games in the first two contests of the series before going 1-for-4 with a two-run single in the Sunday finale.
She extended her hit streak to a season-long eight straight games, and in the three affairs against Houston, Searcy produced a standout .636/.636/.727 (7-for-11) line with three runs scored, one double, four RBI and eight total bases. She was also perfect in her usual spot in left field, recording eight putouts without committing an error.
Over the weekend, Searcy also recorded back-to-back three-hit games after tallying just two such games throughout her first 47 games this season. Thanks to her two-RBI effort Sunday afternoon, the Jacksonville, Florida, native has now recorded multi-RBI games in three of her last five games and seven such games overall this season.
Searcy also enters the season's final weekend 10 hits shy of tying her season high (52, 2022), as well as one double shy of tying her season high (6, 2022).
UP NEXT
The Knights will conclude regular-season play this weekend with a three-game road series against the Memphis Tigers May 5-7 before making the trip to Tampa, Florida for the American Athletic Conference Tournament May 11-13. First pitch for UCF's series-opener at Tigers Softball Complex is slated for 7 p.m. ET Friday evening.
