CLEARWATER, Fla. – The UCF softball team saw a dominant performance by freshman right-hander Yessenia Lopez to conclude its first day at the 2025 Shriners Children’s Clearwater Invitational, but the Knights fell in consecutive games to No. 5 Texas A&M, 9-1, and Auburn, 1-0, at the Eddie C. Moore Complex Friday.
Lopez turned in the strongest appearance of her still-young collegiate career against the Tigers, setting personal single-game season-bests in innings pitched (6.0), fewest hits allowed (3) and strikeouts (9), while issuing no walks for the third time in her first five appearances.
She kicked off the Knights’ second game of the day with a trio of strikeouts in the bottom of the first inning and added her fourth punchout amid a pair of pop outs in the second.
Two more Lopez strikeouts would come in the bottom of the third, and though Auburn managed its first baserunner of the contest on a UCF miscue, she tightroped out of the inning with no damage done thanks to a groundout to third baseman Sierra Humphreys.
Auburn cracked the scoreboard first on a one-out double and RBI single in the fourth, but Lopez limited the Tigers to just one in the frame, fanning her seventh hitter of the afternoon and inducing another pop up on the infield.
Her eighth strikeout came in a scoreless fifth inning, and her ninth in a spotless 1-2-3 sixth. UCF’s offense was stymied by Tigers starter SJ Geurin, though, and UCF would fall, 1-0, in its rematch with Auburn after the Tigers eliminated UCF from 2024 postseason play in the NCAA Tallahassee Regional.
Prior to UCF’s contest against Auburn, the Knights kicked off the day’s action against No. 5 Texas A&M. The Aggies potent offense plated two quick runs in the bottom of the first inning, followed by four in the second and three more in the third to send the Black and Gold to its first run-rule defeat of the spring, 9-1.
UP NEXT
UCF looks to bounce back from its two Friday losses in their lone scheduled game Saturday against the Clemson Tigers, a squad looking to snap its own losing skid. The Tigers have dropped each of their first three games of the Clearwater Invitational to No. 15 Missouri, 10-6, Auburn, 6-3, and Kentucky, 7-6.
First pitch is set for 9 a.m., and will be streamed on ESPN+.
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