Softball Earns Second Win over FGCU, 4-2

ORLANDO – As she steadily grew throughout the first three seasons of her collegiate tenure, the opportunity for a breakout campaign for right-hander Kaitlyn Felton presented itself upon the commencement of her senior season.

The Valrico, Florida, native has seen her innings workload increase each of the last three seasons, from 50 to 77.1 to 87, and now as the lone senior on UCF’s pitching staff, Felton has seized her chance.

She produced another dominant showing in her latest appearance, going the distance yet again in the Knights’ 4-2 win over FGCU to conclude the SpaceU Classic at the UCF Softball Complex Sunday afternoon.

Felton’s most recent outing represented her fourth of the season that has seen her throw seven innings, a new single-season career-high for the right-hander, and lowered her season ERA to a miniscule 0.79 in 35.2 innings pitched.

The right-hander was buoyed by a seven-hit attack from her offensive corps, led by multi-hit efforts from both Ashleigh Griffin and Samantha Rey, with the former notching her second double of the season and UCF’s seventh of the weekend, as well as her team’s Big 12 Conference-leading 28th of the season.

Third baseman Sierra Humphreys and shortstop Aubrey Evans contributed run-producing plays the contest as well, as the squad concluded a strong 5-1 record on the weekend to improve to 12-6-1 overall.

“We’ve been put in that position a few times this year,” Ball-Malone said of her team’s resilience after falling behind early in the contest. “I love the response of the team, with the older ones hitting a couple of walk-offs and the younger ones hitting with runners in scoring position. It’s all great experiences for us.”

After Felton spun a perfect 1-2-3 first inning, the Eagles cashed in on a leadoff single and a UCF error with a run-scoring single up the middle to take an early 1-0 lead.

The Knights punched back in the home half, seeing Griffin double and Rey single her over to third base for freshman catcher Beth Damon. The rookie backstop put the ball in play the other way, giving Griffin enough space to score from third base.

FGCU again answered, scoring a second tally in the top of the third on a shallow sacrifice fly to Stormy Kotzelnick in right field to snatch back a 2-1 edge.

Felton calmed the storm from there, spinning four consecutive scoreless frames to conclude the contest. She fanned her third hitter of the afternoon in helping strand a leadoff single in the fourth, spun a perfect fifth with a pair of groundouts, and in the sixth worked around a two-out hit-by-pitch with two more ground balls.

UCF’s offense managed to again break through in the home half of the fifth, with Evans driving in Rey on a groundout before Alexis Morgan, who pinch-ran for Damon, scored on a wild pitch. Humphreys soon followed with an RBI single up the middle to extend her team’s lead to 4-2.

Felton emerged from the dugout for the final frame, and punctuated UCF’s fifth win of the weekend with three more outs on the ground, including a 5-4-3 double play to erase a leadoff single.

“Coach Bear is a master pitch-caller, she sees things that I can’t imagine being able to see,” Felton added. “She knew what to throw in those situations, and I always tell my defense that I’m going to feed them. For them to have my back and pull it off today, it means a lot.”

UP NEXT

UCF now faces another ranked challenge away from home, as the squad will travel south for a midweek tilt with the No. 25 FAU Owls, off to a 15-2 start in 2025 with power four wins over Ole Miss, Clemson, Kansas, Minnesota and NC State. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. from FAU Softball Stadium Feb. 26 and will be streamed on FAUSports.com.

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