Friday, May 21
Wichita State 9, Texas A&M 7
No. 23 Wichita State opened the NCAA Norman Regional with a 9-7 win over Texas A&M Friday night at Marita Hynes Field behind a pair of home runs from senior Madison Perrigan.
Wichita State (40-11-1) will now face the winner of No. 1 Oklahoma and Morgan State Saturday at 3 p.m. CT. The Shockers won their 40th game of the season, marking just the second 40-win season in program history.
The win also marked the first-ever victory against Texas A&M. Entering the matchup Wichita State had been 0-9 all-time vs. the Aggies.
Bailey Lange (22-6) threw 5.1 innings in the start, allowing four runs on three hits and three walks. Caitlin Bingham threw the final 1.2 innings to secure the win.
Perrigan notched her second career NCAA Regional multi-home run game, going 2-for-4 with four RBI. Sydney McKinney drove in a run on a double, going 2-for-4. Addison Barnard recorded three RBI and scored twice. Kaylee Huecker was 2-for-3 with two runs.
Wichita State wasted little time putting some runs on the board. In the bottom of the first, following an Barnard hit by pitch, Perrigan sent the first pitch of the at-bat out of the ballpark to left field, giving the Shockers an early 2-0 lead.
Texas A&M cut the lead in half in the top of the second after back-to-back leadoff singles led to an RBI groundout.
The Shockers put two more on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second after a bases loaded walk and hit by pitch. Wichita State threatened with a big inning, but couldn't take full advantage of the bases loaded.
The Aggies came right back with two runs of their own in the top of the third on a two-out, two-run home run, cutting the lead to 4-3.
In the bottom of the fifth, Wichita State broke the game open behind five runs, all with two outs. Back-to-back singles from Huecker and Bailey Urban led to an RBI double for McKinney. Barnard, the very next batter, laced a single to right, bringing home two more runs. The cherry on top was Perrigan's second two-run home run of the game, putting the Shockers up 9-3.
Lange's night came to an end in the top of the sixth after loading the bases via walks. Bingham entered and limited the damage to just a single run.
The top of the seventh didn't come without some anxiety. Trailing by six, Texas A&M scored three runs and had the tying run at second before Bingham induced a game-ending groundout to first.
UCF 5, Auburn 4
A five-run second inning propelled the Knights to victory on Friday as UCF took down Auburn, 5-4, to open play in the NCAA Regional in Tallahassee, Florida.
With the win, UCF secures its spot in the winner's bracket. As such, the Knights will play Florida State on Saturday as the Seminoles also won their first game on Friday after taking down No. 4 seed Kennesaw State, 6-2. The Owls will play Auburn Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET. The loser of that game will be eliminated, while the winner will go on to play the loser of the game between UCF and the Seminoles at 5:30 p.m. ET.
"With that win, I think the team knows we can do this now. We are supposed to be here," said head coach Cindy Ball-Malone. "Even though they may have always known that, now they feel it for sure."
All the Knights' damage on Friday came in the second inning. Down 1-0 early to the Tigers, Shannon Doherty ripped a double into the left center field gap to drive in a pair and give the Black and Gold the lead. The runs kept pouring in from there as the Knights batted around the order, tallying six hits and a walk in the inning to take the 5-1 lead.
The Tigers answered back with three runs of their own in the bottom of the second, but Alea White came in for UCF with one out in the fourth inning to shut the door. White tossed 3.2 shutout innings, allowing just two hits and no runs to secure the win and move to 21-7 on the season.
Four Knights turned in multi-hit performances in the victory as Allyse Volpe, Denali Schappacher and Kaitlyn Jensen were all 2-for-4, while Karissa Ornelas was 2-for-2, adding two walks as well. In total, UCF notched 12 hits in the victory.
TALLAHASSEE BRACKET/SCHEDULE
Friday, May 21
UCF 5, Auburn 4
Florida State 6, Kennesaw State 2
Saturday, May 22
UCF vs. Florida State – 12:00 p.m. ET (Broadcast TBD)
Auburn vs. Kennesaw State – 2:30 p.m. ET (Broadcast TBD)
Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 winner – 5:00 p.m. ET (Broadcast TBD)
Key Moments
Auburn leadoff hitter Alyssa Rivera started off the bottom of the first with a triple and came around to score on an RBI single, giving the Tigers the early 1-0 lead.
With two Knights on in the top of the second, Shannon Doherty ripped a double to left center field to drive in a pair and give UCF the 2-1 lead.
Two batters later, Justene Molina grounded out to drive in another run and extend the Knights' lead to 3-1.
Still in the second inning, Denali Schappacher singled to left to drive in another UCF run, putting them up 4-1.
The next batter, Jada Cody, knocked an RBI single to right center field to extend the Knights' lead to 5-1.
With two Tigers on in the bottom of the second, a UCF fielding error would allow them to score, cutting Auburn's deficit to 5-3.
The next batter, Sydney Cox, doubled to drive in another Auburn run and make it a 5-4 ballgame.
The Knights threatened with runners on second and third and nobody out to begin the fourth inning, but three straight outs extinguished the threat to keep the score locked at 5-4.
The Tigers threatened to tie the game with a runner on second and two away in the bottom of the sixth, but UCF pitcher Alea White got the strikeout to end the inning and get the Knights back into the dugout.
Auburn loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh down by a run, but a 1-2-3 double play would end the game and secure the 5-4 UCF win.
NOTABLES
The Knights' five runs in the second inning ties the UCF record for most runs in one inning in the NCAA Tournament. In 2015, the Knights scored five runs in the fourth inning against South Carolina.
The win marked UCF head coach Cindy Ball-Malone's first as a head coach in the NCAA Tournament.
With the win, UCF moves to 40-17-1. This is the seventh time in program history that the Knights have had at least 40 wins in a season (2002, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2014, 2015 and 2021).
The win marked UCF Softball's first ever over Auburn.
With the win, Alea White is just the second Knight ever to win in her NCAA Tournament debut, joining Allison Kime (2008 vs South Florida in the NCAA Gainesville Regional).
With the win, White secured career victory No. 98.
It is fourth time in program history UCF has won first game of the NCAA Tournament to advance to the winner's bracket game (2008, 2010, 2015 and 2021).
No. 4 Florida 1, South Florida 0
The University of South Florida softball team opened NCAA tournament regional play with a loss in a 1-0 thriller to host Florida. The Gators outlasted the Bulls in a pitching duel to take the win.
Georgina Corrick (Sanford, Fla.) held the No. 4 Gators, who averaged over five runs per game entering the NCAA tournament, to just one run on the day. Bethaney Keen (Bradenton, Fla.) led Bulls hitters by going one-for-three on the day.
Corrick and the USF defense fought through multiple jams. The Gators went 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position, one-for-six with two outs and stranded eight runners in the game.
After the Bulls forced Florida to strand two runners in scoring position to end the fifth and turned their second double play of the game in the bottom of the sixth, USF nearly broke through in the top of the seventh.
AnaMarie Bruni (Schwenksville, Pa.) reached on an error and was bunted to second by Kyndall Williams (Trenton, Fla.), giving South Florida its first runner in scoring position of the afternoon with only one out. Brooke Hartman (Port Orange, Fla.) walked to put runners on first and second and was pinch run for by Natalie Zweig (Tampa, Fla.).
Keen nearly drove a runner in with USF's first hit of the day. The redshirt junior singled to center and Bruni tried to score from second, but was thrown out at the plate and the Gators turned two by throwing out Zweig trying to advance to third, ending the inning.
Florida clinched the win in the seventh. Chyenne Lindsey singled to left to start the inning and scored in the next at bat, as Hannah Adams hit a walk-off double to center field.
Quotable
Head coach Ken Eriksen on Georgina's effort in the circle…
"She was competitive. She was really, really competitive. She didn't worry about what the situation was in respect of, there's two people on and no one out. It was: what does the situation dictate, how do I feel I can get this person out, how do I feel I can pitch to this person to make her hit the ball to where I want it to go, and then, if you got to two strikes, how do I go for the kill? I saw her be an artist out there today. She really painted a heck of a picture in every situation."
Notables
USF moves to 27-32 all-time in the NCAA tournament and 12-11 in regionals played in Gainesville.