Saturday, April 10
No. 24 UCF 4, East Carolina 0
Led by a gem on the mound from starting pitcher Alea White, the No. 24 Knights took down ECU 4-0 on Saturday at Max R. Joyner Family Stadium in Greenville, North Carolina to move to 28-9, 8-3 on the year.
White was a true workhouse ace for the Knights in the contest, defending just a one-run lead until the seventh inning when the Knights tacked on three more insurance runs. White posted three 1-2-3 innings and allowed an ECU runner to reach scoring position just twice all game. She finished the game with a seven inning, complete game shutout, allowing just five hits while striking out three to move to 14-3 on the season.
"Alea is a Rockstar," said head coach Cindy Ball-Malone. "I love her competitiveness and how she made adjustments. The fact that she has already faced ECU in two other games this series and then shut them out today just speaks to her ability to mix speeds, mix pitches, and compete."
The Knights' offense was slow to start, manufacturing just one run through the first six innings, but the insurance runs came in the seventh as UCF posted three runs, including two off a home run from Kaitlyn Jensen, to take the 4-0 lead.
"Of course, we'd love to have multiple runs in an inning or not play with just a one run lead for so long, but at the same time, I think our team needed games like this to continue to keep learning how to stay composed under those situations," said Ball-Malone. "These types of games put us in a really good position to help us be at our best at the end of the year."
Key Moments
The Knights manufactured a run in the second as Ball-Malone signaled for the double steal with runners on the corners and everyone was safe to put UCF up 1-0.
With a runner on third and two away in the seventh, Katie Burge hit a single back to the pitcher to drive in Justene Molina, who led off the inning with a walk, putting UCF's lead at 2-0.
The next batter, Kaitlyn Jensen, hit a two-run home run to extend the Knights' lead to 4-0.
NOTABLES
The win moves UCF to 28-9 overall and 8-3 in conference play.
The win moves White to 14-3 on the season. Her 14 wins lead the conference and are tied for eighth in the nation.
Jazmine Esparza hit a double in the contest. Her 13 doubles on the season lead the conference and are tied for fifth in the nation. As a team, UCF has a league leading 51 doubles.
Wichita State 8, Houston 3/Wichita State 11, Houston 2 (5)
Wichita State clinched another series win behind a doubleheader sweep of Houston Saturday afternoon at Wilkins Stadium, winning by scores of 8-3 and 11-2.
Wichita State (27-5, 10-1) extended its win streak to eight straight with two more victories today and also broke yet another school record in the process. The Shockers entered the day needing one home run to tie the single season record of 59 and two to break it. All they did was hit six between the two games. Wichita State broke the record set in 2018 and needed only 31 games to do it.
Erin McDonald started the first game, but went only 3.0 innings, allowing three runs on three hits and three walks. Caitlin Bingham came in and finished it off, pitching the final 3.0 innings. She allowed just one hit and walked only one.
Sydney McKinney was stellar yet again at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a home run, two RBI and three runs scored. Madison Perrigan also homered, finishing 1-for-3. Lauren Mills drove in three behind a 3-for-4 outing, which included a double.
After McDonald struck out the side in her first inning of work, McKinney led off the home half with a single and then came all the way around to score on three wild pitches. On the very next pitch after McKinney scored, Perrigan crushed a solo shot over the center field wall to make it 2-0.
A two-run home run for the Cougars in the next inning tied it up at 2-2, and then they took the lead in the top of the fourth on a leadoff solo shot. That homer ended the day for McDonald.
Houston's lead wouldn't make it past the fourth inning, however. A leadoff double from Mills led to a two-run home run for McKinney to make it 4-3 Shockers. Mills added another run for Wichita State in the fifth on an RBI single to left.
Wichita State loaded the bases to begin the bottom of the sixth, leading to a run on a Houston throwing error. Mills then provided the final runs on a two-run single to the left-center gap.
In game two, Perrigan opened the scoring in the bottom of the first with an RBI double to left, scoring McKinney who led off with a single.
Houston grabbed the lead in the top of the third on a two-out, two-run home run from Sarah Queen. But, that lead would vanish rather quickly. McKinney immediately tied the game at 2-2 with a leadoff solo home run, her second of the day. The Shockers would end up scoring six runs in the inning.
Four batters later, Ryleigh Buck unloaded a two-run blast to straightaway center field to put Wichita State in front for good. Kaylee Huecker and McKinney tacked on the final three runs of the inning courtesy of an RBI single and a two-run double.
The first two batters of the fifth inning were retired before McKinney's double led to Addison Barnard delivering her 15th home run of the season to make it 9-2. Perrigan reached via walk, setting up Herring for the walk-off two-run shot, putting the run-rule into place.
McKinney finished the day 7-for-8 at the plate after going a perfect 4-for-4 in the nightcap. She doubled twice, homered and drove in three runs in game two. Herring went 3-for-4 with a home run, two RBI and two runs scored.
Bailey Lange collected her 14th win of the season behind five strikeouts and allowing just two runs on three hits.
Tulsa 7, USF 2
Tulsa evens the series at 1-1, defeating USF 7-2 in game one of the scheduled double-header Saturday afternoon in the USF Softball Stadium. Game two went to the middle of the 5th innings, before being suspended because of weather.
The Hurricane used a strong 6th inning to build a five-run lead in its' 7-2 victory. The inning started with an Aubree Seaney single through the right side of the infield. Sarah Briers put down a sacrifice bunt, that the third basemen threw into right field, allowing Kennedy Cramer, the pinch runner, and Briers to advance to second and third.
Makayla Jackson pinch hit for the Hurricane driving a two-run RBI single into left field, giving the Hurricane a 4-2 advantage. Tajiah Ellison followed with a pinch hit single and stole base to give TU runners in scoring position without an out.
Kyndal Pirtle reached on a fielder's choice, before Haley Morgan drove in a run by being hit by a pitch. Alexis Perry put the icing on the cake for Tulsa with a two-RBI single down the left field line.
Samantha Pochop drew the start for TU, throwing 6.0 innings, allowing 2 runs on 6 hits while striking out 7. She picked up her 6th win of the season moving her record to 6-1. Kassidy Scott closed things out for Tulsa throwing one inning of scoreless softball.
Perry gave the Hurricane its first lead of the game in the 3rd innings, driving in Pirtle and Morgan on a single up the middle. Pirtle began the inning with a single, and Morgan was hit by a pitch, advancing to second on a stolen base.
The Bulls struck first in the game, using back-to-back singles and a walk to load the bases. USF pushed the runner at third with a sacrifice fly to center field, giving them 1-0 lead. Pochop ended the innings forcing the Bulls to fly out to right.
Perry and Jackson led the Hurricane on the day from the plate combining to go 3-5 on the day with 6 runs batted in.