Softball 2026 Season in ReviewSoftball 2026 Season in Review
Victoria Ayars / UCF Athletics

Softball 2026 Season in Review

by Ryan Ladika

ORLANDO – Eighth-year UCF head coach Cindy Ball-Malone never wavered.

“People in the softball world, some have laughed at our mission,” she said. “If people are laughing, then we have the right mission.”

A program that, in 24 prior seasons, had advanced to the NCAA Super Regional round just one time, once again set out to do what none in Orlando had accomplished before.

Though the group in the end fell just two wins shy of becoming the first in program history to capture a Super Regional championship and punch its ticket to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City this spring, Team 25 still cemented its place among the most accomplished groups to don the Black and Gold at the UCF Softball Complex.

TALLAHASSEE REGIONAL CHAMPS

Hungry to extend their season following a disappointing 6-5 first-round Big 12 Conference Tournament loss to the fifth-seeded Kansas Jayhawks in Oklahoma City, the Knights, having authored a dominant 38-16-1 record entering NCAA Tournament play, learned on Selection Sunday that they would once again be sent to a familiar postseason site.

For the third time in the last four seasons and fourth time in the last six, UCF saw its name selected to the NCAA Tallahassee Regional, setting up a potential matchup against a Florida State Seminoles program that the Knights had failed to topple in 16 previous meetings dating back to the 2011 season. The Black and Gold were also winless in six all-time NCAA Tournament matchups against the Seminoles.

“I’m super excited. They’re a great program and they have a great environment, but we’re ready. We’ve talked a lot about this team and what we can accomplish. We’ve been to Tallahassee quite a bit, and we have some unfinished business up there.”

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UCF was indeed up for the challenge.

The team first authored a dramatic extra-inning come-from-behind walk-off 2-1 win over Jacksonville State, tying the game at one run apiece in the bottom of the seventh on catcher Beth Damon’s single to left field before driving in the winning tally in the eighth on third baseman Coco Jaimes’ single up the middle.

The late offensive push was just enough to bolster a strong showing in the circle by the trio of Tori Payne, Lena Elkins and Isabella Vega that held the Gamecocks to just one run on five hits in eight innings of action.

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With its NCAA Tournament-opening triumph, the Knights drew a day two matchup with the Stetson Hatters, who first pulled off a stunning 8-3 upset win over the host Seminoles just hours before UCF’s victory over Jacksonville State.

Led by Evans’ second-inning grand slam that set the tone for the afternoon, the Knights rolled to a 10-1 five-inning run-rule triumph over Stetson behind four innings of one-run ball from freshman Ava Stuewe and run-producing plays by Kendall Yarnell, Beth Damon, Ashleigh Griffin and Samantha Rey.

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Firmly in the driver’s seat with a 2-0 record entering the regional final and a rested pitching staff, UCF finally got its shot at Florida State Sunday afternoon.

Redshirt sophomore Isabella Vega tossed one of the strongest games of her young career, limiting the Seminoles to just two runs on three hits in six innings, but the Florida State tandem of Jazzy Francik and Ashtyn Danley held the Black and Gold’s offense to just one run on three hits to set up a winner-take-all Tallahassee Regional Game 7.

Enter Tori Payne.

A freshman who had made just 15 appearances, and seven starts, prior to Sunday’s regional final, Payne came through with one of the most memorable performances in program history in game two against Florida State. The Bradenton native picked up where Vega left off, silencing Florida State to the tune of just a pair of runs in six innings of work.

Behind the first-year right-hander’s dominant showing, a pair of two-run home runs by Damon and Izzy Mertes keyed one of the biggest wins in program history and helped send UCF to the second Super Regional in program history with a 4-2 victory over the No. 9 overall seeded Seminoles.

“Florida State is an amazing team and program, and it took every ounce of us to make it to this point. I’m so proud of the fight that they had. It is very difficult to play here, so for us to show that reliance and continue to stay together and fight was so big.”

Cindy Ball-Malonehead coach

Evans led the offensive charge throughout the weekend, hitting for a combined .400/.538/.800 (4-for-10) with one double, one home run, five RBI, eight total bases and three walks in four games, while Damon, Mertes and Yarnell each added home runs of their own.

Payne and Vega paced the squad in the circle, meanwhile, with 9.1 and 9.0 innings, respectively, as five UCF pitchers combined to produce a team 1.62 ERA in 26 innings throughout the weekend in Tallahassee.

RE-WRITING THE RECORD BOOKS

The most prolific offensive season in program history, the 2026 campaign saw the Knights shatter a myriad of team records as they marched toward their berth in the NCAA Los Angeles Super Regional.

The quintet of Sierra Humphreys, Beth Damon, Aubrey Evans, Kendall Yarnell and Izzy Mertes represented the team’s offensive leaders throughout the season, as the group gave the program its first season that saw five different players hit at least 10 home runs.

Damon (16), Yarnell (15), Humphreys (14), Mertes (12) and Evans (12) factored into an overall team home run total of 73, representing a new program single-season record.

Damon and Mertes both hit their respective final home runs of the year in UCF’s 4-2 victory over No. 9 overall seed Florida State in Tallahassee, while Humphreys and Evans both launched solo home runs against No. 8 overall seed UCLA in Los Angeles, representing the second and third NCAA Super Regional home runs in program history.

In addition to its record 73 long balls, the 2026 Knights also set new single-season marks in RBI (354), grand slams (6), run-rule wins (15), total bases (825), runs scored (383), batting average (.320), on-base percentage (.416), and slugging percentage (.532).

SB_Tanner Pavlosky_4207_022126_1744333040Coco Jaimes, Izzy Mertes | Photo by: Tanner Pavlosky

BEATING THE BEST

Upon the season’s conclusion, UCF boasted a final resume that ranked among the best authored by a squad donning the Black and Gold in the program’s 25-year history.

The Knights earned eight wins over teams ranked within at least one of the four major national top 25 polls at the time of the game, besting the program’s previous single-season record of seven ranked wins set in 2022 and 2025.

UCF earned an early resume-boosting victory in only the season’s second weekend, toppling then-No. 10 LSU, 5-1, during its stay in the 2026 Clearwater Invitational Feb. 14. The triumphant effort, representing the first win over LSU in program history, helped the Black and Gold clinch their first winning record at the tournament.

The Knights then kicked off conference play with another statement, as the squad earned the first series win over the Oklahoma State Cowgirls in program history, taking two of three from the then-No. 12 Cowgirls in Stillwater March 6-8. The team’s efforts gave UCF its second ranked Big 12 Conference series win, joining the Knights’ series victory over then-No. 4 Arizona in Tucson March 7-9, 2025.

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UCF would go on to also take series from then-No. 23 Arizona State in Tempe April 10-12 and then-No. 24 Kansas in Orlando April 17-19, before earning one of the biggest wins in program history over the No. 9 overall seed Florida State Seminoles in Game 7 of the NCAA Tallahassee Regional May 17.

With their eight ranked victories, the Knights finished the spring slate at No. 20 in the nation in the NCAA’s final RPI update, representing the team’s best end-of-season place in the metric since 2022 (No. 14). The squad accrued six quadrant one wins (No. 10 Florida State, No. 12 LSU, No. 13 Oklahoma State twice and No. 17 Arizona State twice), 12 RPI top 50 wins, 28 RPI top 100 wins, and a perfect 13-0 record against RPI 101+ programs.

They did it while facing the 15th-toughest schedule overall and the second-toughest schedule of any Big 12 program, behind only Oklahoma State’s 12th-ranked schedule, producing the first 40+ win season in the program’s Big 12 era and the first winning record in Big 12 Conference play in program history (14-9-1).

MS. ALL-AMERICAN

An integral cog in the machine throughout the season, junior second baseman Sierra Humphreys brought back to Orlando an honor accomplished just once before by a Knight.

A well-deserved recognition for her efforts in leading the squad to its 41-win campaign, the Corona, California, native was added to the NFCA’s All-America Third Team, cementing her place in program lore alongside UCF Hall-of-Famer Shelby Turnier, who earned NFCA All-America First Team status in 2015.

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Humphreys, in just her first year as an everyday second baseman after spending her first two collegiate seasons at third base, enjoyed the strongest year of her standout UCF tenure thus far, starting each of the Knights’ 61 games while setting single-season career bests in average (.379), on-base percentage (.454), slugging percentage (.712), runs scored (48), total hits (67), doubles (15), home runs (14), total bases (126) and RBI (57), and matching her previous season best in walks (26).

Among the program’s all-time single-season leaderboards, Humphreys this year ranked fourth in RBI, fourth in double plays turned, fifth in average, fifth in slugging percentage, sixth in total bases, seventh in on-base percentage, seventh in runs scored, seventh in home runs, and tied for ninth in doubles.

She also enters her senior season next spring representing the program’s second-leading hitter by average all-time, as her career .359 batting average trails only Knights Hall-of-Famer Stephanie Best’s .384 mark, and she also ranks among career program leaders in on-base percentage (3rd, .431), slugging percentage (.4th, .582), double plays turned (7th, 35), assists (9th, 311), and home runs (10th, 21).

SB_JR_4207_040226_1944267520Sierra Humphreys, celebration | Photo by: Jon Rose

Humphreys wasn’t a one-dimensional asset, either. Settling in just fine at her new position, she made countless highlight-reel plays in the field and established herself as one of the more sure-handed second basemen in the nation, leading the country in defensive runs saved (12.0) as of April 29.

COLLECTING THE HARDWARE

In addition to Humphreys’ recognition as an NFCA All-American, the Knights garnered their fair share of post-season honors.

UCF’s coaching staff, Cindy Ball-Malone, Noah Sanders, Stacie Pestrak and Shannon Saile, was tabbed as the NFCA’s Gulf Regional Coaching Staff of the Year after the quartet led the squad to its Super Regional clash in Los Angeles, representing the second such honor bestowed upon a Ball-Malone-led staff at UCF.

The team also saw six members named to the 2026 All-Big 12 teams, in Sierra Humphreys (First Team), Isabella Vega (First Team), Aubrey Evans (Second Team), Beth Damon (Second Team), Samantha Rey (Second Team), and Izzy Mertes (Second Team).

UCF’s six All-Big 12 selections represented a new season high for the program, surpassing the five that earned such honors in both the 2024 and 2025 campaigns.

Vega landed on the first team for the second consecutive season, while Humphreys earned her first career first team honor and her third straight All-Big 12 recognition. Damon, Mertes and Rey each earned an All-Conference spot for the second time in their respective careers, and Evans received an All-Big 12 nod for the second time and her third career All-Conference selection.

The individual awards didn’t stop within the conference, either. UCF saw each of Humphreys (First Team), Vega (Second Team), Damon (Second Team), Kendall Yarnell (Second Team), and Mertes (Third Team) earn NFCA All-Gulf Region recognition, giving the squad its most NFCA All-Region selections in a single season since 2015.

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.