AUSTIN, Texas – The UCF softball team jumped out to an early lead, but a late Michigan rally sent the Knights to a 4-3 loss to open the NCAA Austin Regional at Red & Charline McCombs Field Friday afternoon.
The defeat snapped a streak of six straight NCAA Tournament-opening wins for the Black and Gold, who faced the 25th-ranked Wolverines in postseason play for the first time since UCF clinched the first NCAA Super Regional berth in program history in Orlando against Michigan in 2022.
UCF found the scoreboard first following a spotless top of the first inning authored by redshirt freshman Isabella Vega, cashing in on junior shortstop Aubrey Evans’ leadoff double.
A productive ground ball from sophomore Sierra Humphreys advanced her teammate to third, and redshirt senior Stormy Kotzelnick drove Evans in with a sacrifice fly to center field.
The Wolverines would tie the game at one with a second-inning leadoff solo homer, but Vega quickly shook off the big hit, retiring the final three hitters of the inning and going on to face the minimum in the third, fourth and fifth frames aided by a 5-3 double play turned by Humphreys and Ashleigh Griffin the fourth.
UCF would regain its offensive traction in the bottom of the fifth, ignited by back-to-back leadoff singles by Coco Jaimes and Madison Simon.
Consecutive walks drawn later in the frame by Kotzelnick and Griffin, the latter with the bases loaded, plated the go-ahead score for the Knights, and freshman Izzy Mertes gave her team a two-run lead with an RBI single up the middle that scored Simon.
The Wolverines would rally for three in the top of the sixth, though, and fend off a late Knights seventh-inning comeback bid.
UP NEXT
UCF will face the loser of Friday's second game between No. 3 Texas and Eastern Illinois on Saturday, May 17 at 3:30 p.m. ET from Red & Charline McCombs Field. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
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