ORLANDO – With the group’s first four Big 12 Conference series complete, the UCF softball team is set for its next road challenge, a non-conference weekend at the home of the four-time defending National Champion, and second-ranked, Oklahoma Sooners.
UCF will square off against No. 2 Oklahoma twice, as well as St. Thomas once, as part of the Sooners’ Okana Invitational at Love’s Field in Norman, Oklahoma, April 4-5.
The weekend will feature the sixth and seventh all-time meetings between the Knights and Sooners, with UCF looking for its first win in program history against Oklahoma.
The Black and Gold will also square off against the Sooners in Norman for the second time in program history, and the first time since the Knights made their first NCAA Super Regional appearance in program history May 27-28, 2022. The weekend’s action will mark UCF’s debut at Love’s Field as well, in the stadium’s second year serving as the new home of the Sooners.
Leading the Black and Gold into Norman is redshirt freshman right-hander Isabella Vega, who most recently turned in a dominant week against the No. 3 Florida Gators and Baylor Bears en route to earning D1Softball National Freshman of the Week and Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Week honors.
Over the Knights’ last four games, Vega totaled a team-high 17 innings pitched, allowing just one run on 10 hits with 18 strikeouts accompanied by two complete games, one complete game shutout, and one four-inning save. Her 0.41 ERA represented the lowest mark in the conference in that span as well.
She became the first freshman since 2023 to toss a seven-inning shutout against the Florida Gators March 26, as well as the second freshman in program history to do so, and against Baylor yielded just one earned run in 10 innings throughout the team’s weekend in Waco, Texas.
Her 18 total strikeouts ranked third-most in the Big 12 Conference over the last week, and in lowering her season ERA to a glistening 1.16 through 72.2 innings this spring, she now owns the 10th-lowest mark in the nation.
Following its two-homer game (Aubrey Evans and Izzy Mertes) against the third-ranked Gators Wednesday, UCF’s offense again caught fire in its series finale against Baylor Sunday afternoon, racking up a season-high-tying 15 total hits and seven runs, led by three more home runs from Evans, Sierra Humphreys and Samantha Rey.
Though Humphreys saw her career-long 23-game on base streak come to an end in the Knights’ 1-0 loss to Baylor March 28, she still represents the team’s leading hitter entering the weekend at Oklahoma, boasting a .376/.433/.560 season line (41-for-109) with 24 runs scored, seven doubles, two triples, three home runs, 16 RBI, 61 total bases and 11 walks.
The infielder produced a .426/.500/.603 line (29-for-68) during her streak Feb. 15–March 26, hitting safely in 19 of the 23 games including 10 multi-hit games, 18 runs scored, two doubles, two triples, two home runs, nine RBI, 10 walks and 41 total bases in that span.
Freshman catcher Beth Damon, meanwhile, represented the squad’s leading hitter over the past week, recording a .538/.571/.615 line (7-for-13) with one double and eight total bases, and Evans saw her power numbers improve with her two home runs, leading to a 1.077 slugging percentage over the Knights’ last four games.
Damon’s seven hits were good for a share of the most in the Big 12 over the last week, while Evans’ 1.077 slugging percentage ranked seventh-highest in the league in that span.
Entering the team’s Tuesday midweek tilt on the road with UT Arlington, the second-ranked Sooners boast a 31-3 overall record through their first 34 games, including a 9-3 mark through nine games in SEC play.
Oklahoma’s three losses thus far have come against the Missouri Tigers and No. 9 Tennessee Volunteers, and the program owns ranked wins over then-No. 23 Baylor, then-No. 10 South Carolina, then-No. 12 Arkansas and the Lady Vols.
The Sooners kicked off conference play with a three-game set against the Gamecocks March 7-9, with both teams entering the weekend unbeaten. Oklahoma pulled off the sweep, with each game a one-run affair, and went on to sweep the Razorbacks before taking two of three from Missouri. Tennessee is the lone squad to hand the 2025 Sooners a series loss through four weeks of SEC play.
First pitch between the Knights and Sooners Friday is set for 8 p.m. ET from Love’s Field, with Saturday’s action set to feature a doubleheader for the Knights against St. Thomas at 11 a.m. ET and Oklahoma at 1:30 p.m. ET. UCF’s contests against the Sooners will be streamed on SECN+.
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