ORLANDO – Sarah Willis outdid herself once again.
The junior transfer authored another chapter in her storybook debut season with the UCF softball team in its series-opener against Houston Friday evening, throwing the third perfect game in program history, and the first of seven innings, to lead the Knights to their 7-0 victory over the visiting Cougars at the UCF Softball Complex.
Before 699 fans in attendance, Willis was masterful throughout the evening, retiring each of the 21 Houston (19-25, 6-7 AAC) hitters she faced to record the Knights' (31-19, 10-3 AAC) second no-hitter of the 2023 season, following Grace Jewell's six-inning effort against then-No. 22 Arizona State March 17, and the 22nd no-hitter in program history.
In tossing the third perfecto in program history, Willis joined Pysha Simmons and Taylor Sawyer in the exclusive club, with the first two both coming in run rule fashion in 24-0 and 11-0 victories over Morris Brown (Feb. 2, 2003) and Bucknell (March 13, 2003), respectively.
"It was kind of like an out-of-body experience. It happened, and I was just like, 'Okay, three outs.' Then I was like, 'Oh, a perfect game,'" Willis said with a smile. "It was crazy, and then I saw everybody running out and I got really excited, and everybody was hugging me. It was just nice to have my team have my back like that."
She accomplished the feat every bit as much with her glove on her left hand as with her right arm, recording six infield assists and one putout to help herself along to her current place in UCF softball lore.
"Really everything was working, obviously I'm always throwing my changeup to keep people off-balance," Willis continued. "But working with Carson [Frier], rolling balls to my teammates and catching a pop fly. Doing what I need to do."
The Ontario, California, native only grew stronger as the evening wore on. After needing 15 pitches to work through her first inning and 18 in the second, Willis dispatched of the Cougars on just seven pitches in the third and six in the fourth.
"She's just really turned it on here during conference play," said head coach Cindy Ball-Malone. "She's had the ability to do that in most of her outings most recently. I started to notice it in the fourth, fifth innings. Her pitch count in the first inning and second innings, it took a lot of pitches to get them out. And then it started like, six pitches, seven pitches, and I was like, 'She's starting to figure some things out.'"
Willis needed only 10 pitches to navigate the fifth inning, inducing a trio of groundouts before collecting her third strikeout in a clean sixth inning that also included a popup back to the circle.
The right-hander was aided by her defense in closing out her historic evening in the top of the seventh, as left fielder Kennedy Searcy made a catch just inches above the outfield grass with one out. Shortstop Jasmine Williams kept calm when a slow ground ball headed in her direction moments later, placing a perfect throw to first baseman Shannon Doherty to cap off Willis' spotless outing.
"Before the game, I saw her and she was squatting in the dugout staring into the distance," Frier recalled. "I was like, 'Yeah, I'm not even going to say anything to her right now,' I could just tell she was so locked in. Going into the game too, I knew it. And our bullpen was good, so I knew it going in."
Willis entered the evening with a glistening 1.94 season ERA, as well as a 0.92 mark within American Athletic Conference play that ranked first in the conference. Both numbers naturally dropped, as Willis now boasts a 1.81 season ERA (104.2 IP, 27 ER), good for third-lowest in The American, and her 0.78 ERA (45 IP, 5 ER) within conference play remains the best mark in the AAC by almost a half-run.
In her last 21 appearances (15 starts) since UCF's Feb. 23 doubleheader against Gardner-Webb, Willis boasts a miniscule 1.03 ERA (88.1 IP, 13 ER), racking up 79 strikeouts against just 32 walks while limiting her opposition to a .158 average.
"It felt like a championship game when you're getting ready to make that last out," Doherty said. "We were afraid to think it, to say it, we were just trying to play the game. We all had it in the back of our minds that history was happening in front of our eyes. We were just in that last out going to do whatever it took to protect the queen in that moment."
Not that she needed the run support, but the Knights produced a seven-spot for their pitcher at the plate and on the basepaths, a refreshing return to form offensively following three narrow, low-scoring wins against South Florida last weekend.
Freshman utility infielder Aubrey Evans broke the ice in the bottom of the first inning with a sacrifice fly to left field that scored Kennedy Searcy, a tally that would prove the game-winning run.
UCF later tacked on a pair of three-run innings in the fifth and sixth frames, on the strength of Aubrey's three-run double in the fifth inning, a hit that extended her team-leading doubles total to 14. Center fielder Johneisha Rowe added an RBI fielder's choice in the sixth prior to Searcy's two-run single that capped off the offensive exploits for the Knights.
After UCF combined for seven runs in its three games against the Bulls, the Knights scored at least seven runs for the first time since their 13-1 win over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane April 16.
"She just did her job, throwing her pitches, even when she was in counts where she was behind, she still stuck with what she knows and works best for her," Ball-Malone added. "I think the biggest thing was how she defended. She had [six] assists, and I think that how our offense came out and started hitting right away definitely put the momentum in our hands. Sarah took that and ran with it."
UP NEXT
The Knights will look to clinch the series win against the Cougars Saturday afternoon, with first pitch moved up to 12 p.m. in anticipation of inclement weather.
