Friday, March 25
No. 23/24 UCF 5, South Florida (RV) 2
No. 23/24 UCF opened on the right foot at rival South Florida, tallying five unanswered runs to defeat the Bulls 5-2 in Tampa. The Knights scored two runs in the fifth, drilled a solo home run in the sixth and added insurance runs in the seventh inning to race past South Florida.
Kennedy Searcy, Denali Schappacher and Justene Molina each finished the day with two hits for UCF, and Molina added four RBI to the cause. Searcy’s solo home run in the sixth inning gave the Knights the lead.
Gianna Mancha (11-2) spun a two-hit complete game for UCF, walking one with nine strikeouts to pick up the victory. Georgina Corrick (22-2) surrendered five earned runs over seven innings, striking out 10 and clubbing a solo home run to help her cause.
Memphis 9, East Carolina 8
Memphis withstood a late rally from East Carolina to win a 9-8 decision at home in the conference opener. The Tigers led 7-3 after five innings but the Pirates answered with five runs in the top of the sixth to claim an 8-7 lead. Memphis responded with two runs in in the bottom of the sixth frame in the victory.
Alyssa Dean, Kendall Lee and Zoe Adebayo each drove in two runs for Memphis in the win. Camryn Wineinger, Hannah Bassham and Sam Ibison came across to score twice in the Tigers win. Jocelyn Alonso went 3-for-3 with a home run and four RBI for ECU.
Mikayla Hoschak (3-5) threw 1.1 scoreless innings of relief to capture the pitching win for Memphis.
Tulsa 9, Houston 1 (5)
Tulsa exploded for six runs in the fourth inning and three runs in the fifth innings to walk off Houston 9-1 in Tulsa.
Haley Morgan and Rylee Keith both recorded two-RBI games for Tulsa. Gracie Jarvis scored two runs in the Golden Hurricane victory. A fifth-inning solo home run for Rock Benavides provided Houston with its lone scoring play.
Samantha Pochop (7-7) yielded three hits and an earned run over five innings, walking one with four strikeouts.