The Knights won one and lost one on Friday as they opened the UCF Knights Invitational on home turf at the UCF Softball Complex.
Shelby Turnier pitched a complete game, surrendering just one run on three hits against seven strikeouts in the UCF’s opening game.
Kent State scored the only run of the game in the first inning when third-baseman Maddy Grimm hit her second homerun of the season. The blanking at the hands of the Golden Flashes was the first time in 19 games UCF has not posted a run.
UCF bounced back in the nightcap, shutting out Bradley 3-0.
Senior Mackenzie Audas took the circle and pitched a complete game shut-out for her 62nd career win. Audas is now tied for second in all-time wins in Knights history. The 7-inning gem was Audas’ 75th complete game, and when she struck-out Bradley’s lead-off hitter it was her 800th career strikeout. Audas went on to strike out eight more Braves, against two hits and two walks.
All of the Knights scoring came in the third inning, as they loaded the bases on a single by Lauren Goodman, a walk by Kalyn Cenal and a hit-by-pitch by Jessica Ujvari. Senior Farrah Sullivan laced an RBI single for the first RBI, and reloaded the bases. Freshman Courtney Rotton drove in the final two runs of the game with a hard hit out to left.
Friday’s split puts the Knights record at 16-4. Ranked 18th in the USA Today/NFCA poll and 15th in the ESPN/USA Softball poll, UCF will face Kent State again on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. ET, and will close out the UCF Invitational on Sunday when they host Michigan at 2:00 p.m.