ORLANDO – The UCF softball team etched another chapter in its program’s history over the weekend, and the squad is now set for its next challenge.
The Knights (14-8, 2-1 Big 12) began conference play March 8 with a three-game home series against the Kansas Jayhawks, earning their first Big 12 Conference series win with 7-1 and 3-2 (8 inn.) victories Friday and Saturday, respectively, and going 3-1 in the past week of play when factoring in the team’s 4-2 win over the Stetson Hatters March 6.
On the heels of its 6-2 homestand, UCF will now get three shots at toppling a top five nationally ranked conference foe in its first Big 12 road trip of the season when it travels to Stillwater, Oklahoma, for a three-game clash with the No. 4 Oklahoma State Cowgirls March 15-17.
In taking two of three from Kansas (14-7-1, 1-2 Big 12) in their first taste of Big 12 Conference action, the Knights snapped the Jayhawks’ 10-game win streak, put an end to Kansas southpaw Kasey Hamilton’s 28-inning scoreless streak, and earned two wins over a top 40 ranked opponent in the NCAA’s RPI rankings (39).
The Black and Gold’s series victory was powered by their dominant efforts in the circle in all three games, recording a stifling 1.27 ERA in 22 innings of work while allowing only four total runs and limiting Kansas to a .208 batting average-against.
Right-handers Kaitlyn Felton and Sarah Willis spearheaded the charge, combining to allow just three runs in 15 innings pitched including two complete games. Willis struck out a career-high-tying nine Jayhawks in her first seven-inning complete game of the season Friday, while Felton spun a career-high eight innings in the Knights’ 3-2 win Saturday, representing the squad’s first walk-off victory of the spring.
In spite of the team’s defeat in the final contest of the series Sunday afternoon, UCF’s pitching staff enjoyed a third straight dazzling performance, as the combination of Sona Halajian, Angelina DeVoe and Grace Jewell yielded only one run on one hit, a leadoff single in the top of the second inning.
Throughout the first weekend of conference play, the Knights’ four total runs allowed were good for second-fewest in the Big 12, one shy of No. 1 Oklahoma’s three, translating to a 1.27 ERA that ranked second-lowest to the Sooners’ 1.24. UCF’s 22 innings pitched also marked the most in the conference over the weekend, tied with then-No. 10 Baylor.
The trio of Chloe Evans, Jada Cody and Jasmine Williams paced the Black and Gold offensively in the weekend series, with Williams recording a team-leading .444 average (4-for-9) among players who started all three games, accompanied by her first double of the spring.
Cody added a pair of extra-base hits, including her third home run of the season and her sixth double, and with 48 two-baggers in her four-plus-year career needs just three more to break Jania Shinhoster’s program-record career total of 50.
Evans and designated player Stormy Kotzelnick both came through in key ways in UCF’s series-clinching eight-inning win Saturday, with Kotzelnick providing a crucial game-tying two-run single in the sixth inning that paved way for Evans’ game-winning RBI double, the third walk-off hit of her Knights career.
Head coach Cindy Ball-Malone is also on milestone watch as the series in Stillwater commences, as UCF’s sixth-year leader needs just one more victory to eclipse 200 in her Knights career, and two more wins to reach the 300-win milestone in her nine-plus-year head coaching career.
In facing off against the Cowgirls, UCF will meet its second top five-ranked opponent of the season, its third foe within the nation’s top 10 thus far, and its sixth ranked opponent overall this season.
The fourth-ranked Cowgirls are off to a hot start this spring, boasting a 20-3 record and a series win over the then-10th-ranked Bears, two games to one, through their first 23 games of the season.
Oklahoma State’s spring has been highlighted by a 9-1 run-rule victory over then-No. 8 UCLA Feb. 11, a 3-0 shutout of the then-No. 14 Florida Gators in Gainesville Feb. 19, and a convincing 7-0 two-hit shutout of the then-No. 4 Washington Huskies Feb. 22 prior to the team’s series win over Baylor to commence Big 12 Conference play.
Entering the Cowgirls’ home midweek tilt against Central Arkansas Wednesday, March 13, the team sits near the top of the Big 12 rankings in a handful of categories, including batting average (.333, 4th Big 12, 21st nationally), ERA (1.52, 3rd, 11th), fielding percentage (.981, 3rd, 7th), shutouts (7, 3rd, 14th), slugging percentage (.583, 3rd, 9th), and strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.25, 2nd, 21st).
Oklahoma State’s right-handed tandem of Lexi Kilfoyl and Ivy Rosenberry own the conference’s top two spots in ERA, with respective marks of 0.77 and 0.79, while senior catcher Caroline Wang has represented one of the Big 12’s most potent bats thus far with a team-leading .725 slugging percentage that ranks 13th in the conference.
The Knights make the trip to Stillwater for the second consecutive season after participating in the 2023 OSU Mizuno Classic hosted by the Cowgirls March 17-19, the site at which then-junior right-hander Grace Jewell threw her first career no-hitter, as well as the program’s first no-no against a top 25 nationally-ranked opponent, against the then-No. 22 Arizona State Sun Devils.
Then-freshman infielder Aubrey Evans also hit her first collegiate home run against the then-No. 2 Cowgirls March 19, 2023, a two-out solo shot in the top of the third inning off of then-Cowgirls starter Kelly Maxwell.
Start times for the three games are scheduled for 7 p.m. EDT, 3 p.m. EDT and 1 p.m. EDT Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively, and all three games will be streamed on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
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