ORLANDO – Riding the high of four wins in its last five games and a twin-bill sweep of the North Florida Ospreys Tuesday evening, the UCF softball team is set for its next Big 12 Conference challenge, welcoming the BYU Cougars to Orlando for a three-game series April 4-6.
The Knights (18-15, 4-8 Big 12) exploded for 20 runs in their doubleheader sweep of the Ospreys, including six extra-base hits, 34 total bases and a collective .420/.491/.680 line (21-for-50). Sona Halajian and Jada Cody both hit home runs, with the former’s representing her first career grand slam, and Cody, Chloe Evans and Samantha Rey each notched a triple between the two wins as well.
Halajian’s home run marked the Knights’ first run-rule-ending grand slam since former UCF catcher and current assistant coach Cassady Brewer’s grand slam in the bottom of the sixth inning against the UConn Huskies April 30, 2017, also concluding the game with a 9-0 final score.
Halajian hit the first run-rule-clinching long ball for the Knights since Cody’s three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning of UCF’s 11-2 win over FGCU March 5, 2022. It marked the first grand slam to prove the decider in a run-rule contest since UCF right-hander Grace Jewell’s pinch-hit grand slam in the top of the fifth inning at FIU Feb. 23, 2022, which at the time gave the Knights an 8-0 advantage in the team’s eventual 11-0 victory in five innings.
Right-handers Katelyn Cochran and Sarah Willis paced the team in the circle as well, combining for 10 innings of two-run ball between the two games. Cochran turned in a dominant start in game two, earning her first collegiate win by way of a five-inning, one-hit complete-game shutout.
The Black and Gold also turned in two more lockdown performances in the field, playing 12 innings of error-less ball to push their team fielding percentage to .982, second-best in both the Big 12 and the nation and trailing only the No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners’ .985 mark.
BYU, meanwhile, makes the trip to Orlando boasting a 21-13 overall record, including a 4-8 mark within Big 12 Conference play.
The Cougars most recently won their series against Houston, two games to one, March 28-29, highlighted by a back-and-forth finale that resulted in a 17-15 extra-inning BYU victory that ended with Huntyr Ava’s walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning.
The high-scoring affair is a microcosm of yet another top offensive corps the UCF pitching staff will be tasked with quieting throughout the weekend, as the Cougars’ .339 team batting average ranks third in the Big 12 behind only Oklahoma (.394) and Texas (.377), and slots in at 11th in the nation.
BYU’s 1.06 home runs per game represents a top-30 mark nationally, and the squad ranks 13th in the nation in on-base percentage (.427), 11th in runs per game (7.12), and 19th in slugging percentage (.520).
Sophomore utility player Ailana Agbayani brings with her the second-most total hits in the Big 12 (46), and her .534 on-base percentage (18th) represents just one of three Cougars in the top 25 in the nation in the category, joining Violet Zavodnik (.540, 13th) and Maddie Bejarano (.528, 23rd).
First pitch for the series-opener Thursday evening is slated for 6 p.m. from the UCF Softball Complex, with Friday’s contest also scheduled for 6 p.m. and Saturday’s series finale pegged for 12 p.m. All three games will be streamed on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
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