Sunday, April 2
UCF 9, East Carolina 2 – Box Score
Wichita State 3, South Florida 2 – Box Score
Memphis 8, Tulsa 5 – Box Score
 
Recaps
UCF 9, East Carolina 2 – Box Score
GREENVILLE, N.C. – Fast starts were the M.O. of the UCF softball team throughout its weekend three-game set against ECU, and another one Sunday afternoon set the tone for a dominant 9-2 victory over the Pirates that clinched a three-game sweep in its first road series of the season at Max R. Joyner Family Stadium.
 
The Knights (23-18, 4-2 The American) offense was firing on all cylinders throughout the series, finding the scoreboard in the top of the first inning in all three contests and outscoring the Pirates (22-15, 0-6 The American) by an aggregate 21-2 throughout the weekend.
 
After a Chloe Evans sacrifice fly and an Aubrey Evans RBI single provided the Knights' respective initial tallies in the first two games, UCF plated two more in the top of the first inning Sunday. Chloe Evans cashed in with an RBI single and Jasmine Williams followed with a sacrifice fly to again stake UCF's starting pitcher to a lead before throwing a single pitch.
 
The former's run-scoring single marked her fourth base hit in her last two games following her three-hit display in UCF's 4-0 Saturday win, and the junior has now driven in a run in two of her last three games after fighting doing so just once in her previous 11 games entering the weekend set.
 
Starter Sarah Willis ran with the early momentum, spinning perfect first and second innings to keep her team out of the field and at the plate. The Knights responded well to her efforts with a five-run third inning that featured Williams' second sacrifice fly of the contest, a two-run pinch-hit double by utility player Savannah Adams and a two-run single by Kennedy Searcy.
 
Adams' two-bagger marked her third of the season, setting a season high for the sophomore on the same field on which she clubbed her game-winning pinch-hit two-run homer in the eighth inning of the American Athletic Conference tournament semifinals against Houston a year ago.
 
Williams' two sacrifice flies gave the redshirt-senior her second multi-RBI game in her last five contests, and the shortstop has now collected six RBI while going a combined 4-for-14 in that span.
 
Searcy also recorded her second three-hit game of the season in the winning effort and has hit safely in five of her last seven games overall, going 8-for-21 since the Knights' 3-1 win over the No. 22 Wichita State Shockers March 24.
 
The Pirates mounted an offensive rally of their own in response to UCF's five-run frame, plating a pair against Willis in the home half of the third and threatening for more with two runners in scoring position with one out.
 
Head coach Cindy Ball-Malone turned to right-hander Grace Jewell, less than 24 hours removed from tossing a seven-inning complete-game shutout Saturday evening, in relief, and the Chesapeake, Virginia, native quickly calmed the storm.
 
Jewell retired the first two ECU hitters she faced en route to tossing 4.2 scoreless innings in relief, yielding just one hit and one walk while fanning a trio of Pirates. In the process, she lowered her team-best season ERA to 2.26 (86.2 IP, 28 ER), having totaled 18 innings with just one run allowed and 12 strikeouts in her last three appearances (two starts) during the last week.
 
The Knights would tack on two more in the top of the sixth inning, courtesy of a Shannon Doherty sacrifice fly that scored pinch-runner Olivia Elliott, and behind her Chloe Evans on an ECU error. Doherty's sacrifice fly also provided the 113th RBI of her collegiate career, bringing her to within five RBI of tying Hillary Barrow (118 RBI) for seventh on the UCF all-time list.
 
Wichita State 3, South Florida 2 – Box Score
WICHITA, Kan. – No. 23 Wichita State scored only three runs on Sunday, all on home runs, but it proved to be enough to take down South Florida, 3-2, at Wilkins Stadium.
 
Wichita State (30-7, 5-1 The American) recorded its first-ever regular season sweep of South Florida, outscoring the Bulls over three games, 25-5. The Shockers also secured another 30-win season, marking the ninth straight season with 30 or more (not counting the COVID-shortened 2020 season).
 
The Shocker bats picked up where they left off on Saturday, hitting three home runs in the first three innings, but went silent over the final three. Wichita State managed only four hits on the afternoon.
 
Addison Barnard had two of those four hits, including a solo home run. Zoe Jones and Lainee Brown were the only other Shockers to record a hit, both of them leaving the yard with solo shots.
 
Lauren Howell tossed her eighth complete game to improve to 14-2 in the circle this season. She allowed two runs on four hits and a walk, while striking out two.
 
Jones drove the first pitch in the bottom of the second over the wall in left to give the Shockers an early 1-0 lead.
 
Homers in the third from Brown and Barnard proved to be the difference in the game, as the Shockers would be held off the bases the rest of the way.
 
South Florida broke into the scoring column in the fifth on a leadoff solo home run and then cut the margin to one, 3-2, in the sixth on an RBI double.
 
Memphis 8, Tulsa 5 – Box Score
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Memphis softball team recorded their first conference win in the series final against Tulsa, defeating the Golden Hurricanes 8-5 Sunday afternoon. The Tigers (6-29) recorded eight runs off 12 hits in the match up to hold off the series sweep.
 
Memphis got on the board first as Presley Morris hit a one-run single to center field sending Aliana Zavala home for the Tigers in the top of the second inning.
 
Tulsa evened the score in the bottom of the second inning as Keith singled up the middle allowing Skaggs to reach Homeplate for the score.
 
The Tigers added another run as Madison Berner singled to left field sending Linsey Hargis in for the score in the top of the third inning.
 
Meagan Chism put the Tigers up big as she hit a three-run double down the left field line in the top of the third inning.
 
The Golden Hurricanes began to close the gap in the bottom of the second inning as Morgan and Denson found their way to cross home.
 
Sam Ibison put up another run for Memphis as she came home on a wild pitch in the top of the fourth inning.
 
Tulsa scored two more runs as Morgan hit a homerun to center field in the bottom of the fourth inning to put the Golden Hurricanes within one.
 
The Tigers added another run after back-to-back doubles to center field by Berner and Zavala in the top of the fifth inning. Memphis put up another run as Ibison singled to center field allowing Zavala to come home