Softball Advances to Austin Regional Final with 10-2, 10-8 Wins over EIU, No. 25 MichiganSoftball Advances to Austin Regional Final with 10-2, 10-8 Wins over EIU, No. 25 Michigan

Softball Advances to Austin Regional Final with 10-2, 10-8 Wins over EIU, No. 25 Michigan

by Ryan Ladika
  • Game 1
  • Game 2
Box Score

AUSTIN, Texas – Powered by a relentless offensive attack throughout the afternoon, the UCF softball team would not be denied.

“It shows how much grit we have as a team. We were all on the same page before we got to the field today; we were not losing, no matter what.”

Isabella VegaRedshirt freshman RHP

In a season that has already seen the group re-write its own history books time and time again, the Knights did it once more Saturday afternoon, knocking off the Eastern Illinois Panthers and the No. 25 Michigan Wolverines, 10-2 and 10-8, respectively, to punch their ticket to the program’s first NCAA Regional Final since 2022.

“No matter what the score was, we were still fighting and pushing to get runs across and win today,” Vega continued.

Head coach Cindy Ball-Malone notched the 250th win of her UCF career in the team’s rout of the Panthers, and in clinching its hard-fought nightcap win, recorded the 350th win of her NCAA head coaching career.

The Knights also notched their seventh win over a top 25-ranked opponent this season, with the Wolverines garnering the No. 25 spot in the most recent ESPN/USA Softball poll after a 4-0 run though the Big Ten Conference tournament.

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UCF’s seven ranked wins this year tie a single-season program record, first set in 2022 as the team made its run to the first NCAA Super Regional in program history.

They did it on the strength of a prolific offensive display between the two games, highlighted by three home runs, 20 combined runs, 21 combined hits and 34 combined total bases.

The Knights’ offensive exploits aided the team in outlasting the 25th-ranked Wolverines in a game that saw just two scoreless half innings through the first five complete frames.

“Kudos to them. They had a great run at the end of the year here and those hitters are so tough. Momentum of innings wasn’t what we wanted from a pitching standpoint, but to be able to get three zeros in the last three innings, we’ll take that.”

Cindy Ball-Malonehead coach

UCF, after falling to Michigan by a narrow 4-3 decision to open regional play Friday, first bounced back quickly in its Saturday opener against Eastern Illinois. The team scored in every inning, beginning with a four-run first frame that featured an Ashleigh Griffin bases-loaded walk, an Izzy Mertes RBI single, a run-scoring fielder’s choice hit into by Beth Damon and another RBI groundout from Samantha Rey.

Stormy Kotzelnick came through with a run-scoring double in the second, her 10th of the season, an inning before freshman Coco Jaimes hit the first home run of her collegiate career out to right-center field to push UCF’s lead to 7-1.

“I’ve been feeling a lot more confident. I’ve been working a lot with coach Bear and talking a lot, trying to stick to the plan and to our approach. Just trying to pass the bat to my team.”

Coco Jaimesfreshman INF

Kotzelnick notched her second RBI of the game in the fourth, pushing Humphreys across for the second time, and Damon plated another later in the frame to extend UCF’s lead to 9-1.

After the Panthers answered with one more in the home half of the fourth, Kotzelnick answered the call once again, driving in her third run of the game with her fourth hit to help UCF to its run-rule victory.

In collecting four hits, Kotzelnick not only tied the career-high she set against Houston April 27, but also became the third Knight in program history to record four hits in an NCAA Tournament game.

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“Stormy is a hitter. Sometimes she gets herself out, so if we can keep her mindset in the right place, it’s really hard to get her out. Pitchers fear her and that presence in the box is so valuable.”

Cindy Ball-Malonehead coach

The tandem of Vega and senior Kaitlyn Felton combined to keep Eastern Illinois at bay throughout the matchup, allowing just two runs on four hits in the Knights’ five-inning win.

In the team’s rematch with the Wolverines, the two squads traded blows throughout the slugfest, with Michigan taking a one-run lead in the first and answering all of UCF’s production with an equal tally in the bottom of each frame.

Jaimes, fresh off her first collegiate long ball in Saturday's opener, came through again in the top of the second inning against the Wolverines with a go-ahead two-run single that answered Michigan’s early score.

The hit factored into a 3-for-4 showing for the freshman second baseman, her second three-hit game of the weekend after she produced her first career three-hit game in Friday’s outing against Michigan.

Since the final game of UCF’s series against then-No. 21 Oklahoma State April 19, Jaimes owns a team-best .484 average (15-for-31) with seven runs scored, two doubles, one home run, eight RBI and 20 total bases in 13 games.

“She’s swinging at the pitches she wants to. It’s really special to be able to coach these women the way we’re able to. There’s so much trust between everyone, and it’s awesome to have. It speaks to who we are and why we win.”

Cindy Ball-Malonehead coach

Kotzelnick then lined the first pitch of her at-bat over the right field fence to tie the game up again in the third inning, this time at three runs apiece, and UCF then claimed its second lead of the contest with a four-run fourth frame, one that featured a bases-loaded walk by Aubrey Evans and a three-run double courtesy of Sierra Humphreys.

Michigan continued to answer, plating four more scores to take their one-run advantage back in the bottom of the fourth, before UCF punched right back with a three-run top of the fifth to take a lead it would not relinquish for the remainder of the evening.

Mertes hit her team’s third home run of the day, second of the game, and her eighth of the season, matching Damon for second-most on the squad, and fifth-year outfielder Madison Simon pushed UCF back in front with a bases-loaded, two-run single off the left field wall.

“We talked about how we kind of beat ourselves in that first game, so today we executed a lot better in sticking to our approach and playing against our best selves,” Jaimes added. “It’s important for us to know what we do best and how we’re successful, and just to stick to that.”

After starting UCF’s Saturday opener, Vega clinched the evening win, tossing four more innings of one-run ball in relief with a pair of strikeouts. The Bradenton native enters Sunday’s regional final having tossed a team-leading 11.2 innings throughout UCF’s first three games in Austin, limiting her opposition to an aggregate .250 batting average-against.

UP NEXT

The Knights, in their first NCAA Regional Final since 2022, will clash with the host No. 3, and sixth-seeded, Texas Longhorns at 1 p.m. ET Sunday afternoon from Red & Charline McCombs Field. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.

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