Softball Set to Host No. 2 Oklahoma in Season's Final Home SeriesSoftball Set to Host No. 2 Oklahoma in Season's Final Home Series

Softball Set to Host No. 2 Oklahoma in Season's Final Home Series

by Ryan Ladika

ORLANDO – One of the biggest regular-season series in UCF softball’s program history has arrived.

A three-game set that many had circled on their calendars since the Big 12’s 2024 conference schedule announcement Nov. 9, 2023, the UCF softball team is set to host the three-time defending national champion, and No. 2 nationally ranked, Oklahoma Sooners in the Knights’ final three home games of the 2024 spring season April 26-28.

The series will represent just the second meeting between the two squads in either’s history, and the first since the Black and Gold made the trip to Norman, Oklahoma, May 27-28, 2022 in the first Super Regional appearance in UCF softball’s program history.

The Knights will also host a top two nationally ranked squad for the second time this year, after UCF played host to the then-No. 2 Texas Longhorns March 22-24.

Game three of the series will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU with a scheduled 11:02 a.m. first pitch time as well, a fitting way to honor the program’s 11 departing seniors during the team’s annual Senior Day celebration: Shannon Doherty, Jada Cody, Chloe Evans, Sarah Willis, Grace Jewell, Angelina DeVoe, Sona Halajian, Kennedy Searcy, Johneisha Rowe, Jasmine Williams and Katie Burge.

After dropping a trio of hard-fought one-run games against the Baylor Bears in Waco, the Knights returned to their winning ways Wednesday with a pair of victories against the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats, headlined by the 24th no-hitter in program history tossed by junior left-hander Ava Justman in the nightcap.

The two Wednesday wins pushed UCF back to 10 games over .500, at 28-18, with six remaining in the regular season, and the Black and Gold now own victories in 13 of their last 17 games dating back to their series-opener in Lubbock, Texas, against the Texas Tech Red Raiders March 28.

After Bethune-Cookman managed a runner on base due to an error with one out in the top of the first inning, Justman retired the next 16 consecutive hitters she faced, totaling 15 of her 18 outs on via the ground ball.

The southpaw joined Gianna Mancha (2022), Shelby Turnier (2015) Mackenzie Audas (2015) and Allison Kime (2006) as the fifth pitcher in program history to contribute to multiple no-hitters in the same season, after she combined to no-hit the Jacksonville Dolphins with graduate transfer Sona Halajian April 10.

Searcy led the offensive charge for the Knights in support of Justman with her first three-hit game of the season, culminating in a game-ending RBI double in the bottom of the sixth inning that gave UCF its eight-run lead.

Aubrey Evans, after breaking the Knights’ single-season doubles record with 18 throughout her freshman 2023 campaign, crept closer to notching her second straight double-digit doubles season with her first multi-double game of the year, pushing her season total to eight. The sophomore joined Searcy with UCF’s second 3-RBI showing in the squad’s 8-0 win, and recorded her seventh multi-hit game of the year in the winning effort.

Cody accompanied the duo in notching a multi-hit game to bolster Justman’s no-hitter, collecting the 53rd double of her collegiate career to further extend her lead atop the UCF all-time career doubles leaderboard, a record she broke with her 51st two-bagger against Florida Atlantic April 27.

In meeting the Sooners, UCF will square off against an Oklahoma squad that boasts a 42-4 record through their first 46 games this spring, including an 18-3 mark in Big 12 Conference play. The second-ranked Sooners enter the series in first place in the Big 12 standings, one game ahead of No. 1 Texas and having won four straight conference games and five in a row overall.

UCF has met Oklahoma just twice before, falling in consecutive games in their May 2022 Super Regional appearance in Norman. In spite of the two losses, Cody made history as the first Knight to hit a home run and score in the Super Regionals in UCF’s program history.

The then-junior punctuated her prolific 75-RBI campaign with her 15th long ball of the season, a one-out sixth-inning solo shot off Nicole May in the Knights’ 7-1 defeat.

Coming off the team’s third consecutive NCAA Division I national championship last June, the Sooners emerged victorious in each of their first 18 games this season spanning Feb. 8—March 2, pushing their NCAA Division I record win streak to 71 straight games before falling to the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns, 7-5, in eight innings March 3.

Oklahoma has also claimed 18 of their first 21 conference matchups, falling only to the Longhorns twice April 6-7 before dropping a home matchup to the BYU Cougars, 9-4, in game two of the teams’ series April 12. The Sooners have toppled every other conference foe they have faced, sweeping series against Iowa State, Texas Tech, Baylor, Kansas and Houston.

Oklahoma brings to Orlando a .379 overall team batting average, the top mark in the nation, and also ranks among the country’s top 10 in on-base percentage (.485, 1st), fielding percentage (.985, 1st), walks (246, 1st), runs per game (8.39, 2nd), shutout wins (21, 2nd), slugging percentage (.681, 2nd), home runs per game (1.89, 3rd), ERA (1.56, 4th), and doubles (79, T-10th).

First pitch times are slated for 6 p.m. Friday evening, 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon and 11 a.m. Sunday morning, with the first two games of the series being streamed live on ESPN+ prior to the teams’ finale on ESPNU.

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