ORLANDO – “Hitters like to hit.”
The UCF softball team’s batting order backed up its head coach’s postgame sentiment Thursday evening in authoring two more convincing winning efforts.
On the strength of 16 total runs, 17 total hits and three home runs, the Black and Gold swept its Charge On Classic-opening twin bill against Dartmouth by 8-0 and 8-1 final scores at the UCF Softball Complex, extending their active win streak to six and moving to 17-4 on the season.
With their latest two wins, the Knights have now matched the 2015, 2020 and 2021 teams’ 17-4 record through 21 games, representing the program’s second-best 21-game start to a season in program history, and its best since the 2002 Knights began 18-3.
The program also clinched its all-time 897th and 898th victories to move within two of the 900 plateau, a milestone the team can achieve with two Saturday wins over Florida A&M and Wagner.
“We’re really excited about it, we let the team know where we’re at,” head coach Cindy Ball-Malone said. “We always talk about how we play for the past, present and future. That’s something that’s really big for us, is it’s more than just us or this team. We take a lot of pride in playing for the past, present and future. To be able to continue to create history here is really important for us.”
UCF kicked off its final weekend of February play with an 8-0 five-inning run-rule victory over the Big Green, scoring in each of its four offensive half innings to support its tandem in the circle of redshirt junior Macy Miles and freshmen Reagan Vokoun and Tori Payne.
Junior second baseman Sierra Humphreys plated her team’s first score of the day with a sacrifice fly to center field, driving in Aubrey Evans, before Humphreys and Izzy Mertes added on with back-to-back two-run doubles in a four-run second frame.
Freshman catcher Shyanne Irvin notched her first collegiate RBI with a knock in the third, driving in sophomore Kalista Birkenstock, and fellow freshman infielder Kendall Trimm delivered the final two runs needed to end the contest early with a double to left-center field to collect her first two collegiate RBI.
Vokoun, Payne and Miles, meanwhile, silenced the Big Green throughout their five innings of work, allowing just one hit with a trio of strikeouts. Vokoun earned her second win of the spring in matching her season high with three scoreless innings, and Payne and Miles both tacked on a scoreless frame in relief.
The effort represented UCF’s eighth of the year with at least eight runs scored, as well as its seventh run rule victory of the young campaign.
“They work so hard; our freshman class is dominant and so fun to watch,” Miles said. “It’s been amazing being in the bullpen with them, and they teach me a lot too. It’s been awesome, I love it.”
Game two of the evening saw the Black and Gold off to an even faster start, plating four runs in the home half of the first inning on a Kendall Yarnell two-run double, Kendall Trimm RBI single, and Shyanne Irvin’s second run-scoring hit of the day.
The squad again hit the eight-run mark with three home runs in the third and fourth innings, courtesy of Izzy Mertes, Beth Damon and Yarnell, giving the squad its third three-homer game this season and its seventh multi-homer game.
Entering play Friday, the trio of Yarnell, Damon and Mertes all sit tied atop the Knights’ team home run leaderboard with six to account for 18 of the team’s 24 long balls through 21 games.
In the circle, sophomore Yessenia Lopez was tabbed for her second start of the year and set the tone her team was looking for with three innings of one-run ball accompanied by three strikeouts to clinch her first winning decision of the year.
The trio of Miles, Lena Elkins and Katelyn Cochran then combined to spin four innings of scoreless relief with just a pair of hits allowed to preserve their team’s 17th win of the year.
“I’m super excited to keep working with the team to get a few more wins this weekend,” Trimm said. “My teammates are doing great and it’s a lot of fun to be around, come behind them and learn from them as well.”
UP NEXT
The Knights continue play in their weekend Charge On Classic with another doubleheader Saturday, taking on Wagner at 4:30 p.m. and Florida A&M at 7 p.m.
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.