ORLANDO – Following its three-game home series against the second-ranked Texas Longhorns, the UCF softball team embarks on its second Big 12 Conference road trip of the spring, visiting the Texas Tech Red Raiders for a three-game set March 28-30.
The Knights (14-14, 2-7 Big 12) travel to the Lone Star State looking to snap their skid after suffering their second straight series sweep at the hands of the Longhorns in Orlando March 22-24.
Despite the team’s trio of losses to No. 2 Texas, UCF’s pitching staff enjoyed a strong overall weekend against one of the most prolific offensive teams in the country. Entering the series, Texas had scored an aggregate 40 runs in its previous four games and had scored an average of 8.89 runs per game throughout the spring, good for fourth in the nation.
The team had recorded run-rule victories in three of its last four wins as well, scoring double-digit runs in two of its three games against the BYU Cougars before routing then-No. 17 Florida State 10-0 in six innings.
The Longhorns also ranked first in NCAA Division I softball in team batting average (.403), third in on-base percentage (.479), fourth in slugging percentage (.673) and ninth in home runs per game (1.50) prior to their arrival in Orlando.
The combination of Angelina DeVoe, Grace Jewell, Sona Halajian, Katelyn Cochran, Ava Justman, Sarah Willis and Kaitlyn Felton, meanwhile, held Texas to just 12 runs throughout the series, yielding a .284 batting average-against, a .344 opposing on-base percentage, a .383 opposing slugging percentage, and just one home run in the three games.
UCF’s pitching corps also limited the Longhorns to five or fewer runs in three consecutive games, marking just the second time this spring Texas had been held to five or fewer runs per game over a three-game span (Feb. 24-28 vs. then-No. 9 Stanford, Louisiana and Texas State).
Cochran threw a team-high five innings between her two appearances, allowing four hits and one walk without surrendering a run while striking out three. Justman and Jewell also impressed in their respective Saturday and Sunday relief appearances, spinning four combined scoreless frames with two hits allowed and one strikeout.
The Black and Gold’s pitching efforts were bolstered throughout the weekend by another strong display by their defense, which committed just one error and turned a trio of double plays in the three-game set. Entering the series against Texas Tech, UCF’s .984 fielding percentage ranks first in the Big 12 and second in the nation only to Florida’s .985 mark.
In the Red Raiders (21-8, 2-4 Big 12), the Knights will meet their weekend foe for the eighth, ninth and 10th times in program history, owning a 4-3 lifetime record against Texas Tech in the teams’ previous seven matchups.
UCF most recently squared off against the Red Raiders during the 2022 Clearwater Invitational, topping Texas Tech by a 7-3 final score in eight innings Feb. 18. The trio of Johneisha Rowe, Savannah Adams and Shannon Doherty each produced two-hit showings to pace the Knights offense, which erupted for four runs in the top of the eighth inning to break a 3-3 stalemate.
Texas Tech has dropped four of its first six contests in Big 12 Conference play this spring, with its most recent three-game series at Iowa State canceled due to inclement weather in Ames, Iowa, throughout the weekend.
The Red Raiders won their first conference series of the season, two games to one, over the BYU Cougars March 7-9, eclipsing at least eight runs scored in all three games. The squad toppled BYU 10-5 in the series-opener and 15-0 to take the series in game two before falling by a narrow 10-8 decision in the finale.
Offensively, Texas Tech is led by catcher/outfielder Kailey Wyckoff, who boasts a team-best .405 average (34-for-84) with 10 extra-base hits, 18 RBI, 51 total bases and nine walks. The sophomore notched three consecutive three-hit games in the series in Provo, going 9-for-11 with five runs scored, three RBI, one double and one home run against the Cougars.
The tandem of Maddie Kuehl and Maddy Wright have shouldered the majority of Texas Tech’s innings in the circle, recording respective 3.50 and 3.29 ERAs in 62.0 and 51.0 innings of work. Kuehl has proven the most effective at missing bats this spring, totaling a team-best 56 strikeouts in her 62 innings.
First pitch for the series-opener at Rocky Johnson Field in Lubbock, Texas, is slated for 7 p.m. ET March 28, and each of the three games will be streamed on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
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