ORLANDO – The UCF softball team mounted a late rally, but the squad dropped its non-conference finale to the Georgia Southern Eagles, 4-1, at the UCF Softball Complex Sunday afternoon.
Despite the defeat, UCF still produced an encouraging 5-1 record over its last week of play, including a shutout of the No. 22 Florida Atlantic Owls on the road Wednesday evening. With wins in five of their last six contests, the Black and Gold now enter Big 12 Conference play 10 games north of .500 at 17-7-1.
“It was a good week, any week you go 5-1, that’s a positive,” said junior shortstop Aubrey Evans. “I wish we could have came out with that one at the end, but we learned a lot of good things. Sometimes you come up short, but it’s how you bounce back. We’re excited to get after it in Arizona."
The Knights’ 17 wins through their first 25 games are their most through the first 25 contests of a season since the 2022 Knights went 17-7 through their first 24 games en route to the first NCAA Super Regional berth in program history.
The Eagles Sunday sent UCF to its seventh defeat of the season on the strength of a quick offensive start and a dominant outing by freshman right-hander Maddie Johnson. The visitors loaded the bases with none out in the top of the first inning and scored the game’s first run on a two-out single back up the middle.
Georgia Southern added on in the second, plating their second score via a one-out RBI double, and its third and fourth runs came on a two-run triple in the third.
Redshirt freshman Isabella Vega calmed the storm from there, holding the Eagles scoreless through the game’s final 4.1 innings.
Vega yielded just two hits while striking out two in her latest appearance, and finished the week leading her team in innings (14.2) and yielding just six hits and a batting average-against of .125 with a team-best 15 strikeouts dating back to UCF’s Wednesday win in Boca Raton.
The Knights mounted a late two-out comeback try in the home half of the seventh, scoring their lone run on an Evans RBI single before loading the bases to bring the would-be winning run to the plate.
Georgia Southern then called upon junior right-hander Charla Clifton in relief, who clinched her first save of the season in putting an end to UCF’s rally.
“This whole month has been a learning experience,” said head coach Cindy Ball-Malone. “Even for some of our seniors and veterans, they’re in roles that may be unfamiliar to them. It’s the game within the game, there are some small things that we need to learn and make adjustments on.”
UP NEXT
The Knights begin Big 12 Conference play with a three-game series in Tucson, Arizona against the No. 7 Arizona Wildcats Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Start times are set for 8 p.m., 6 p.m. and 1 p.m. ET, respectively, and all games will be streamed on ESPN+.
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