ORLANDO – The accolades just keep piling up for Sarah Willis.
Following her dominant weekend that included a pair of complete-game shutouts and the third perfect game in UCF softball program history, as well as the first perfect game of seven innings thrown by a Knight, Willis has become the third pitcher in program history to win national Division I Wilson/NFCA Pitcher of the Week honors.
Willis joins fellow right-handers Gianna Mancha and Shelby Turnier in the exclusive club and becomes the first Knights pitcher since Mancha on March 15, 2021 to receive the national recognition. Turnier was honored with national Division I Wilson/NFCA Pitcher of the Week honors on three separate occasions during the 2015 season.
"I'm just trying to get like Jada Cody and Shannon Doherty and get on those UCF all-time records, and I just did that today. Feels great to do it with Carson [Frier]," Willis said with a smile following her perfect game Friday evening. "Just working the whole season, I've been trying to get my pitching to develop to what it is now. Focusing more on pitching does get me locked in just to pitching. Whatever I need to do for the team, I'm going to do it."
In total, Willis tossed 14 innings without allowing a single run between her two starts against Houston, yielding only two hits, striking out seven and posting a batting average-against of just .047 in her two shutouts. She also pushed her personal scoreless innings streak to 26 straight dating back to the third inning of her April 21 start against South Florida.
Her efforts throughout the weekend lowered her season ERA to 1.69 through her first 111.2 innings pitched spanning 28 appearances (20 starts), a mark that represents the third-lowest in the American Athletic Conference.
Her .182 batting average-against is tied with teammate Grace Jewell for the lowest in the conference and represents the lone mark below .200 in The American as well. She also recorded the sixth and seventh complete games of her season individually, taking the team lead in the category, and posted her third and fourth shutouts of the campaign.
In conference play, no one in The American has been better than Willis. Her 0.67 conference ERA (52 IP, 5 ER) represents the lowest mark in the AAC by close to a full run, and her .133 batting average-against is also a conference-best entering the Knights' weekend series in Memphis. She is also the lone qualifying pitcher in the American to allow only one home run in conference play.
"Just telling myself, 'Good pitches in good spots,' because I wasn't missing by too much. Carson was having my back back there," Willis added on Friday evening. "I just knew the whole team was going to have my back, from Carson to the outfielders, because the outfielders are the last line of defense."
Overall, Willis has also allowed 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 and has allowed two or fewer runs in each of her last 12 appearances, posting a 0.74 ERA (56.2 IP, 6 ER) with five complete games, 40 strikeouts and a .146 batting average-against in that span.
Going back further to the beginning of her incredible run through the second half of the season, the Knights' Feb. 23 doubleheader against Gardner-Webb, Willis has posted a 0.95 ERA in her last 95.1 innings of work spanning 22 appearances (16 starts). She has spun each of her seven complete games in that span, posting an 83:35 strikeout-to-walk ratio and limiting her opposition to a .153 batting average-against.
"It's pretty incredible," head coach Cindy Ball-Malone said Friday night. "And it speaks to what Sarah's really done since she's been here and the adjustments she's made and how hard she's working."
