GREENVILLE, North Carolina – Savannah Adams’ two-run pinch-hit home run to leftfield - the first home run of her career - sent No. 17-ranked and top-seeded UCF to a 4-2 win against No. 4-seeded Houston in eight innings in the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference Softball Championship Friday at Max R. Joyner Family Stadium.
The Knights advance to the championship final for the second consecutive season and the fourth time in seven years. UCF will face either No. 2-seeded Wichita State or No. 3-seeded South Florida for the conference title Saturday at 11 a.m. ET on ESPN2.
After Ashleigh Griffin led off the eighth with a base hit, UCF head coach Cindy Ball-Malone turned to Adams, a .217 hitter entering the game, to pinch hit for Johneisha Rowe, who was hitting .291 before the game, but had gone 0-for-3 through seven innings. The move paid off as the freshman laced an 0-2 pitch deep to left for only her third extra-base hit of the season.
Houston had trailed 2-0 and did not have a hit through five innings, but the Cougars finally got to UCF pitcher Gianna Mancha when Rock Benavides reached on a shot up the middle and Bethany Busch hit a two-run shot to right-center that tied the game at 2-2.
The Knights threatened to win it in the bottom of the seventh when Allyse Volpe and Kennedy Searcy had two-out base hits and the Cougars intentionally walked Cody to load the bases. Hannah Todd responded with a strikeout of Shannon Doherty to leave the winning run at third and keep the Cougars alive.
Jada Cody had given UCF a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning when her RBI double down the leftfield line brought Micaela Macario in from third.
The Knights struck again in the bottom of the fifth when Cody hit a line drive that deflected off Houston relief pitcher Hannah Todd, allowing Kennedy Searcy to score from second. Search had reached on a double to the gap in right-center.
Mancha, meanwhile, walked Houston’s first batter of the game on four pitches, but responded by getting the next 16 Cougar hitters in order. She issued a one-out walk in the top of the fifth, but got a double-play ball on the next hitter to get back in the dugout. She took a no-hitter into the sixth inning before Benavides’ base hit and finished the game with nine strikeouts and four walks and three hits with two earned runs in eight innings.
Cody went 2-for-3 with two RBIs for UCF (45-12), while Searcy went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored.
UCF will be looking for its second American Athletic Conference title and its first since 2015, when the Knights were 1-0 winners against Tulsa.