ORLANDO – As its non-conference schedule dwindles to a close, the UCF softball team is hitting its stride and playing some of its best ball of the young season.
Riding the momentum of their second top 25 win of the spring, the Knights are set to conclude their 2025 non-conference slate with their third and final home tournament, the Charge On Classic, Feb. 28-March 1.
UCF will play host to four teams over the next three days, including the Georgia Southern Eagles, George Mason Patriots, Providence Friars and North Florida Ospreys.
The Black and Gold most recently made the trip south to Boca Raton Wednesday evening, taking their first true road game of the season by a 3-0 final score over the No. 22 Florida Atlantic Owls, marking the program’s sixth consecutive shutout victory over the Owls, seventh straight win over Florida Atlantic overall, and fifth shutout victory of the season.
Their latest win boosted the squad to seven games north of .500, at 13-6-1 overall, and represented the team’s second ranked win of the year, first shutout against a ranked opponent since 2023, and first true road shutout against a ranked foe since 2021.
UCF’s Wednesday tandem of Yessenia Lopez, Isabella Vega and Kaitlyn Felton combined to blank the Owls, with each responsible for at least two frames in the winning effort. Lopez, who entered the contest representing UCF’s leader in strikeouts, enters this weekend’s action with the third-most total strikeouts in the Big 12 Conference, behind only Texas Tech’s NiJaree Canady (86) and Utah’s Shelbee Jones (45).
Vega earned the second win of her redshirt freshman season in relief, tossing 2.1 innings of scoreless ball while yielding just three hits and striking out one. With 26 strikeouts in her 22.2 innings pitched thus far, the Bradenton, Florida, native enters the Charge On Classic fourth in the Big 12 in strikeouts per seven innings (8.0), and brings with her the seventh-lowest ERA (1.85) in the league.
Right-hander Kaitlyn Felton finished the job with 2.2 spotless frames in relief, earning her second save of the season and fifth of her career to move into a share for fifth on UCF’s all-time list with Alea White (2017-21). The senior lowered her season ERA to a miniscule 0.73 through her first 38.1 innings, also the third-lowest mark in the league entering the weekend tournament.
Offensively, the Knights’ two leaders in doubles, freshman Izzy Mertes (9) and sophomore Sierra Humphreys (6), both added one to their respective totals in the contest to keep the Knights atop the Big 12 in the category as a team, with 30.
When the Ospreys make the weekend trip to Orlando, among them will be one of Softball America’s four Stars of the Week in two-way senior Allison Benning. Throughout North Florida’s weekend appearance in Madeira Beach, Benning hit three home runs while going 2-0 in the circle, including the second perfect game in program history against Sienna. She garnered ASUN Player and Pitcher of the Week honors for her efforts.
The Ospreys are off to a 14-4 start to the 2025 season overall, boasting a 2.15 team ERA in the circle and a .480 slugging percentage at the plate.
The Knights will try for the 20th win in program history against North Florida Saturday, looking to improve upon a 19-6 lead in the all-time series. UCF swept an April 2 doubleheader against the Ospreys last season, a day that featured then-sophomore right-hander Katelyn Cochran’s first collegiate win, complete game and shutout in the nightcap.
UCF boasts an undefeated record in six all-time meetings with George Mason, all coming at home. The Patriots are 4-8 through their first 12 contests this spring, led at the plate by sophomore outfielder Emily Lampela’s .375/.474/.656 line accompanied by a 1.130 OPS and six extra-base hits through 12 starts.
The Knights are also unbeaten in their all-time series against Providence, prevailing in each of the teams’ four previous meetings. The Friars make the trip to Orlando in search of their first win of the season.
The Black and Gold have met Georgia Southern just twice in program history, splitting the two contests. The Eagles recorded an early-season ranked win over then-No. 22 Michigan during the USF-Rawlings Invitational hosted by South Florida Feb. 9, and are off to an 8-6 start in 2025 overall.
Every game throughout the weekend Charge On Classic will be streamed on ESPN+. The complete schedule with broadcast stream links, live stat links and results can be found here.
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