ORLANDO – The No. 21 UCF softball team brought a tie game into the top of the sixth inning, but the squad dropped a narrow 4-3 decision to the No. 3 Texas Tech Red Raiders to open the teams’ three-game series Friday evening.
“We did a really good job against a tough team,” said head coach Cindy Ball-Malone. “I really liked our fight, we’re a young team, but we had a couple of plays on which we could do better, on both sides of the ball. That’s exciting as their coach, to know that we have more, and we have more games to play.”
Facing off against the two-time reigning NFCA National Pitcher of the Year in NiJaree Canady, Knights redshirt sophomore right-hander Isabella Vega nearly matched her opponent pitch-for-pitch, going the distance against a Red Raiders lineup that ranks within the top 10 in the nation in nearly every offensive statistical category.
Vega allowed just two runs, one earned, through her first four innings, keeping her squad in the contest until her batting order came alive against Canady in the home half of the fourth.
Sophomore third baseman Coco Jaimes led off with a single through the left side, and sophomore catcher Beth Damon, one of UCF’s most consistent offensive threats this season, came through once again, lining a run-scoring double into the left-center field gap to halve Texas Tech’s early advantage.
Junior third baseman Sierra Humphreys followed immediately with a run-scoring double of her own, this time to right-center field, that plated pinch-runner Taylor Kittleman and evened the affairs at two runs apiece.
Vega, given new life with her squad’s fourth-inning rally, retired the side in the top of the fifth in order before the Red Raiders struck for two more scores in the visiting side of the sixth.
Damon, already with her double and first RBI on the night, provided yet another key contribution, sending a 2-2 offering from Canady deep over the left field fence to bring her squad to within one with her 10th home run of the season.
The long ball secured the sophomore’s first collegiate double-digit home run season, as well as her sixth career home run against a ranked opponent. Just 31 games into her sophomore season, the Edmond, Oklahoma native is close to setting single-season career bests in runs scored, total hits, total bases, walks, and RBI, and has already surpassed her 2025 totals in doubles and home runs.
Vega, meanwhile, twirled her fifth seven-inning complete game of the season in the effort, and her third in as many conference series. In six appearances, four starts, against ranked opposition this season, Vega has compiled a 3-2 record with a 2.01 ERA, accompanied by two complete games, 16 strikeouts and a .215 batting average-against in 24.1 innings.
UP NEXT
UCF looks to even the series in Saturday’s game two, with first pitch set for 5 p.m. from the UCF Softball Complex.
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.