ORLANDO – The UCF softball team clinched its second series win since the commencement of Big 12 Conference play on the road at Texas Tech to conclude March, and the squad looks to build on its momentum with the start of a six-game homestand this week.
The Black and Gold will first welcome the North Florida Ospreys to Orlando for a Tuesday evening doubleheader, created out of the teams’ postponed matchup from Feb. 28, before embarking on a three-game weekend home set against the BYU Cougars April 4-6.
UCF’s offense saw a much-needed lift throughout the squad’s three games in Lubbock, earning a pair of wins in the series on the strength of 24 total runs scored after the Black and Gold plated just 11 runs over the course of its seven-game skid March 10-24.
Among Knights who started all three games, right fielder Chloe Evans paced the team with a .500/.538/.583 (6-for-12) line accompanied by two runs scored, one double, four RBI, seven total bases and one walk.
Evans also sparked UCF’s come-from-behind victory in game two, leading off the Knights’ eventual-seven-run seventh inning with a single, scoring, and later hitting an RBI single to center field in her second at-bat of the frame.
Ashleigh Griffin also enjoyed two strong starts in the series, highlighted by her 3-for-4 showing in game two that featured a pair of doubles and her first home run of the season, a game-tying two-run shot in the top of the fourth inning. The contest marked her second career three-hit game, as well as her first career game with three extra-base hits.
Griffin was joined by Jada Cody, Savannah Adams and Sierra Humphreys in hitting key home runs throughout the series’ first two games as well. Humphreys’ second career home run came as part of a six-run fourth inning that erased a 4-0 Red Raiders lead in game one, and Adams later added her third career pinch-hit home run, marking the Knights’ second two-run shot of the game in the top of the seventh inning.
Cody’s fourth long ball of the season, and 36th of her career, was a three-run shot that provided key insurance runs as part of the Knights’ seven-run seventh inning in game two, after Griffin slugged her game-tying home run in the fourth inning.
UCF in the series also clubbed four home runs in a two-or-fewer-game span for the second time this season, after the squad notched a four-homer game against Wisconsin during the Clearwater Invitational Feb. 16.
The Knights recorded back-to-back multi-home run games for the first time since the 2022 season as well, when they hit a pair of home runs against South Florida in the American Athletic Conference Tournament championship game May 14, followed by two more long balls in the opener of the 2022 Orlando Regional against Villanova May 20.
In the circle, meanwhile, sophomore right-hander Katelyn Cochran continued to shine for the Black and Gold, tossing a team-leading 5.1 innings without yielding a run, issuing just one hit, striking out four, and locking down her first collegiate save in her two appearances.
The series represented only the latest chapter in what is quickly becoming Cochran’s breakout campaign, as the sophomore has stymied two of the top offensive corps in the nation over the last two weeks.
Against the Red Raiders and No. 2 Texas Longhorns, Cochran has spun a team-leading 10.1 innings, allowing no runs, five hits, one walk and striking out seven while recording a batting average-against of just .156 in four appearances.
When it welcomes North Florida to Orlando Tuesday, UCF will meet the Ospreys for the 24th and 25th times in program history. The Knights hold an overall 17-6 edge in the teams’ previous 23 matchups, including a three-game win streak and victories in 11 of the last 13 meetings between the two programs.
The two squads will clash at the UCF Softball Complex for the second straight season as well after the Knights earned a 3-2 walk-off win March 29, 2023. Kennedy Searcy drove in the game-winning run thanks in part to an Ospreys fielding error in the bottom of the seventh inning, and then-junior right-hander Grace Jewell threw 6.1 innings of one-run ball, yielding just two hits with four strikeouts before Sarah Willis recorded the final two outs of the seventh inning.
North Florida is off to a 23-10 start this season, including a 7-2 record through their first nine games in ASUN Conference play. Utility and two-way player Allison Benning has starred for the Ospreys throughout their first 33 games this spring, pacing the squad in batting average (.348, 32-for-92), slugging percentage (.641) and ERA (1.83).
The junior has logged a team-high 111 innings pitched thus far, having spun 11 complete games and limiting her opposition to a .197 batting average-against with 125 strikeouts in the circle, and at the plate, has recorded 11 extra-base hits (three doubles, eight home runs), 59 total bases, 27 RBI, and has scored 15 runs.
Senior infielder Savannah Channell has produced a team-best .430 on-base percentage as well in her 33 starts, having drawn a team-leading 20 walks to accompany her 22 hits, five extra-base hits and nine RBI.
First pitch for game one of the twin-bill is slated for 4 p.m. ET, with game two to follow shortly after the conclusion of the opener. Both games will be streamed live on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
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