With her latest effort, Willis has recorded an aggregate 1.57 ERA (12 ER) spanning 53.2 innings of work over her last 10 appearances (nine starts), limiting her opposition to a .168 batting average-against while racking up 38 strikeouts since her five-inning effort against North Florida April 2.
Overall, Cody and center fielder Johneisha Rowe represented the two most consistent performers offensively for UCF throughout the regular season, with Rowe the owner of a team-leading .372 average (42-for-113) and a .418 on-base percentage.
Rowe’s .372 mark would represent the fourth-highest single-season batting average in UCF’s program history, trailing only Stephanie Best’s .442 mark in 2004, Best’s .403 mark in 2003, and Breanne Javier’s .385 mark in 2008.
Cody’s .346 average through UCF’s 52 regular-season contests marked her highest single-season average since her breakout 2022 campaign that saw the then-sophomore hit .361 en route to collecting a single-season program-record 75 RBI.
As an encore to her 2023 campaign that saw her garner AAC Pitcher of the Year honors in her first season as a Knight, Willis concluded the regular season the owner of a 2.39 ERA in a team-high 114.1 innings of work. She has limited her opposition to a .212 batting average-against thus far, and is in need of one more punchout to record her second straight 100-strikeout campaign since she joined UCF prior to the 2023 season.
In their first contest in Oklahoma City Thursday night, UCF will look to bounce back against a Baylor squad that took all three games from the Knights in the teams’ series in Waco April 19-21.
The Black and Gold dropped a trio of hard-fought pitchers’ duels that saw their staff yield just four runs in the three weekend contests.
Willis tossed a pair of six-inning complete games, allowing three runs with eight strikeouts in her 12 innings, accompanied by a .159 batting average-against in the series in Waco, while the tandem of Katelyn Cochran, Angelina DeVoe and Kaitlyn Felton combined to limit Baylor to one run in game two of the series as well.
Since the two programs’ late-April clash, Baylor enjoyed a strong finish to its regular season, winning six of its final seven games including a pair of three-game sweeps against BYU and Houston in its final two conference series. The Bears’ 14-13 conference record earned the fourth overall seed in the conference tournament to cement the squad’s first-round tilt with the Knights.
Baylor scored a combined 34 runs in its three games against BYU in Provo before returning to Waco and outscoring Houston 19-1 in the series with a pair of shutout victories to conclude its home slate.
Junior two-way player Aliyah Binford was the catalyst for her team’s sweep of Houston, tossing a seven-inning, one-hit shutout in game one Friday evening before throwing five more scoreless frames in Sunday’s finale. She also notched a pair of multi-hit contests offensively, going 5-for-9 with a double, two runs scored and two stolen bases throughout the weekend series.
The winner of the Knights’ contest with Baylor will face off against the victor of No. 1 Texas’ quarterfinal matchup, with the Longhorns awaiting the result of Iowa State and Texas Tech’s first-round contest Wednesday, May 8.
First pitch for UCF’s Thursday contest is slated for 8:30 p.m. ET from Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and the game will be streamed live on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
