ORLANDO – “We’ve been talking about it; we’ve been hearing others talk about it so much. I want us to go for it.”
The wait is over for the UCF softball team, and head coach Cindy Ball-Malone and her group are ready for the challenge. The squad is set to embark on its inaugural Big 12 Conference slate, beginning with a three-game home series against the visiting Kansas Jayhawks March 8-10.
With their conference-opener against Kansas slated for 6 p.m. Friday, the Knights look to extend a decade-long streak of beginning the second half of their season on the right foot. UCF has won each of its last nine conference-openers dating back to March 22, 2014’s 1-0 win over Memphis, and last year earned a top-25 win over the then-No. 22 Wichita State Shockers by a 3-1 score March 24 to begin its final season as a member of the American Athletic Conference.
The Knights (12-7) most recently picked up a 4-2 win over the Stetson Hatters in the teams’ Wednesday evening tilt at the UCF Softball Complex, marking UCF’s third straight win overall and its ninth in 11 games on its home turf.
Against the Hatters, right-handed pitcher Sona Halajian threw five strong innings in her second home start of the season, allowing just two runs on three hits with a pair of strikeouts. The outing marked her second of the spring with at least five innings, joining her six-inning effort against the Oregon State Beavers during the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City, California, Feb. 23.
Grace Jewell and Kaitlyn Felton provided stingy efforts in relief to close out the Knights’ 12th win, combining for two scoreless innings with Felton picking up her first save of the season and the third of her career.
Offensively, second baseman Aubrey Evans provided an early spark with a first-inning two-run homer off the left field foul pole that represented the fourth of her career, the second of her 2024 slate and her first at the UCF Softball Complex.
Jada Cody also helped spearhead the charge at the plate against Stetson Wednesday, recording a perfect 3-for-3 display that included a pair of doubles, marking the third multi-double game of her career and pushing her to within three of tying Jania Shinhoster’s program record of 50.
With a team-best 28 hits through 19 games, Cody also ranks fourth in the Big 12 entering the weekend’s action, and sits eighth in the conference with 43 total bases.
“We’ve been through a lot of adversity. I like how we came out and played a little more aggressive,” Ball-Malone said following the Knights’ Wednesday win. “We’re going to take that in stride and keep going.”
In Kansas, UCF will meet a red-hot Jayhawks squad that brings to Orlando an active 10-game win streak and a 13-5-1 overall record. Kansas’ 2024 spring has been highlighted by a 1-0 victory on the road over then-No. 17 Texas A&M on the strength of a seven-inning complete-game shutout by southpaw Kasey Hamilton.
The senior has compiled a dominant start to her 2024 slate, registering a 2.28 ERA (18 ER) in a Big 12 Conference-leading 55.1 innings pitched, and has authored each of the Jayhawks’ last four complete-game shutouts dating back to Feb. 22, including Kansas’ one-run win over the Aggies.
Offensively, the Jayhawks are led by Presley Limbaugh, who in 16 starts this season has produced a .449/.542/.571 line (22-for-49) with four extra-base hits, 14 RBI, 28 total bases and 14 runs scored.
Overall, UCF and Kansas have split four all-time meetings between the two programs, with the Knights holding a 2-1 advantage at the UCF Softball Complex. The Black and Gold also took the last matchup between the two teams, by a 1-0 score Feb. 7, 2014.
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