ORLANDO – The UCF Knights softball team's Friday evening Opening Day dinner was an emotional night for all in attendance, as the evening's agenda took guests back to a dominant 2022 season while also providing optimistic looks ahead to the 2023 campaign.
Included in the moments of remembrance was an award presentation for head coach Cindy Ball-Malone, who following the conclusion of UCF's 49-win 2022 season was named Extra Inning Softball National Coach of the Year.
Ball-Malone, or 'Coach Bear,' as she prefers to be called, led her team on a historic run by all accounts through the 2022 campaign. The Knights' 49 wins marked the program's winningest season since the 2015 team collected 50 wins, and UCF hosted an NCAA Regional for the first time in program history, broke through to the Super Regionals for the first time, and brought the program to new heights of national relevance and respect entering the 2023 slate.
Bear won the 100th career game of her coaching tenure with the Knights, as well as the 200th game of her eight-year career, during the Knights' standout '22 season, and UCF's head coach led the charge as the Knights won an American Athletic Conference Championship for the third time in team history and the first time since 2015.
The Knights also swept their way through two games against Houston and South Florida en route to capturing their second American Athletic Conference Tournament Championship and the fourth conference tournament title overall in the history of the team.
Under Ball-Malone, the Knights excelled on both sides of the ball, ranking second in The American in team batting average (.295), on-base percentage (.397), slugging percentage (.437), RBI (322), ERA (2.30), opponent batting average (.214) and strikeouts (344).
Coach Bear also guided her players to achieving impressive individual accomplishments, such as Jada Cody's program-record 75 RBI season, Gianna Mancha's dominant campaign that saw her post a 1.82 ERA in 185 innings with 187 strikeouts, and Kama Woodall's equally impressive year in the circle with a 1.98 ERA in 138 innings of work and 105 punchouts.
OPENING WEEKEND
The Knights open their season against the 10th-ranked Georgia Bulldogs at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9, marking the second straight season that UCF has drawn an Opening Knight matchup with Georgia. The season-opener is the first of four games the Knights will play during the Black & Gold Classic at the UCF Softball Complex, followed by a pair of Friday matchups against UMass and Boise State on Feb. 10 and a Saturday evening tilt against Ohio State on Feb. 11.
TICKETS
Season and single game tickets are on sale now! Click here to purchase season tickets, or click here for single game tickets.
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