ORLANDO – Led once again by a dominant day in the circle, the No. 25 UCF softball team concluded its third weekend of action on a high note, besting Notre Dame, 3-1, and Charleston Southern, 5-1, at the UCF softball Complex Sunday afternoon.
The Knights, now 14-4 through 18 games, went 5-1 on the weekend with wins over Notre Dame, Ohio, and Charleston Southern while falling just once to Penn State Friday evening. The team’s 14-4 record through 18 games still represents the program’s best start to a season since the 2021 Knights went 15-3 as well.
“Our pitchers today, we did better with less freebies, but we’re still working,” said head coach Cindy Ball-Malone. “We’re young and it’s still early in the season, so it’s a good sign, but I don’t want us to be satisfied with just our record. We have a lot more improving to go.”
The trio of Hildie Dempsey, Ava Stuewe and Isabella Vega combined to allow just two runs, one earned in 14 innings on the day, highlighted by Dempsey’s first career seven-inning complete game, an effort that saw the southpaw go the distance with just a single unearned run allowed on three hits with a career high five strikeouts in Sunday’s opener against the Fighting Irish.
Overall, opposing batters against the trio Sunday went a combined 9-for-50 (.180) with just the two runs scored, and the Black and Gold staff as whole, including Dempsey, Vega, Stuewe, Katelyn Cochran, Tori Payne and Reagan Vokoun posted a glistening 1.20 ERA in 41.0 innings over the weekend.
The six arms limited their opposition to two or fewer runs in five of UCF’s six weekend contests on a .199 average (29-for-146), and UCF’s team 2.42 ERA represents the program’s lowest team ERA through the first 18 games of a season since the 2021 Knights’ 1.95 mark.
Dempsey’s effort throughout Sunday’s opener proved instrumental in keeping her team in the game until a late sixth-inning rally lifted the Black and Gold past the Irish for the second time in as many days.
After the freshman southpaw retired 17 of the first 23 hitters she faced, the Knights, who had been held scoreless to that point by Notre Dame starter Micaela Kastor, finally broke through with a three-run sixth inning.
Izzy Mertes led off with a double to left center field and advanced to third on a well-executed sacrifice bunt by Destiny Washington. Ashleigh Griffin then tied the game at one with a sacrifice fly to right field deep enough to score Mertes from third.
Freshman pinch-hitter Kendall Trimm was then hit by a pitch and replaced by pinch-runner Zoe Calvez, and after Samantha Rey drew a subsequent walk, a pair of Irish errors, coupled with a Coco Jaimes infield single, allowed both Rey and Calvez to score the Knights’ second and third runs.
Dempsey then finished the contest even stronger than she started, striking out two in a perfect seventh inning. The left-hander set single-game career highs in innings pitched (7.0) and strikeouts (5) in the contest.
Stuewe and Vega then teamed up to stifle Charleston Southern in Sunday’s game two, allowing just a first-inning run on six hits in their seven innings of work.
The former, appearing in the eighth game of her freshman season, and making her fifth start, went five innings for the third consecutive appearance after totaling just 8.2 innings between her first five outings this season. Her Sunday start also represented her most effective effort since her opening day outing that saw her spin four innings of one-hit ball against Boston U Feb. 5.
Vega, meanwhile, locked down her third save of the season, all coming during the weekend’s action, with two more scoreless frames to clinch UCF’s 14th win of the season.
The Black and Gold responded to a Buccaneers run in the top of the first inning with two of their own in the home half and never looked back, taking the lead on the strength of an Izzy Mertes RBI groundout and an Ashleigh Griffin sacrifice fly.
The third inning saw Griffin’s second RBI of the contest, on a single to center field that plated pinch-runner Ayala Durant, in for Mertes who doubled to lead off the frame.
UCF then tacked on two more insurance scores in the bottom of the sixth inning, on Rey’s run-scoring single and a wild pitch later in the frame that allowed Calvez to score from third base.
ABOUT UCF ATHLETICS
UCF is a proud member of the Big 12 Conference. Our mission is to positively transform the lives of our students academically, athletically, and personally through a nationally competitive intercollegiate athletics program that enhances the reputation and visibility of the University. We strive to be Florida's preeminent athletic program, representing UCF and our community with distinction on the national stage as "Orlando's Hometown Team". To learn more about UCF and Athletics, please visit our websites at www.ucf.edu and www.ucfknights.com.