ORLANDO – Close to a calendar year ago, the UCF softball team saw its season come to a close at the Seminole Softball Complex in Tallahassee, Florida. With Sunday evening’s announcement, the Knights will return to the same site looking to finish what they started.
As proclaimed by the NCAA Tournament selection committee Sunday, UCF earned its 11th all-time bid to the dance, as well as the team’s fourth straight, marking the first time in program history the Black and Gold have punched their ticket to four consecutive NCAA Tournaments.
The Knights were slotted into the Tallahassee Regional for the second consecutive season and fourth overall as well, joining the Auburn Tigers and Chattanooga Mocs in the region hosted by the 15th-seeded Florida State Seminoles.
“We’re not satisfied with what we’ve done yet this season, and we have a lot more goals in front of us that we want to accomplish. Being able to get the opportunity to go out there and reach those goals and continue this season and continue with this group is a blessing.”
First Baseman Shannon Doherty
UCF brings a 30-23 season record into the NCAA Tournament, including a 12-15 mark within Big 12 Conference play. In the squad’s inaugural season in the Big 12, the Knights compiled their sixth consecutive non-COVID-19-shortened 30-win season, with the exception of the spring 2020 slate that saw the Black and Gold collect 21 wins in their first 27 games prior to the season’s cancellation.
The Knights most recently dropped a hard-fought contest to the Baylor Bears in the quarterfinal round of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Championship in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, falling by a 3-2 final score. The contest marked UCF’s fourth loss to Baylor this season, all by just one run.
“It has taught us that we can hang with anybody. I’m done hanging. I’m ready to win. The message this week is going to be all about competing and winning. Our response to little games within the game, and if we’re ready to punch back harder. It’s time for it to fall our way.”
Head coach Cindy Ball-Maloneon the Knights' narrow losses this season
Senior right-hander Sarah Willis turned in another strong start in the circle in her team’s tournament opener, tossing six innings of three-run ball with four strikeouts to help keep UCF in the game throughout the evening.
The first of her four punchouts represented her 100th of the spring campaign, giving the Ontario, California, native her second career 100-strikeout season in as many years donning the Black and Gold. Willis will enter regional play representing UCF’s leader in the circle, having tossed a team-high 120.1 innings spanning 27 appearances (21 starts), accompanied by a 2.44 ERA, 103 strikeouts and a .216 batting average-against.
Graduate transfer Sona Halajian provided a late offensive punch, slugging a game-tying two-run home run in the top of the sixth inning, marking her fifth long ball of the spring. The timely shot bolstered Halajian’s overall line in her last 17 games to a team-best .457 average (16-for-35) in that span, accompanied by five multi-hit games, three doubles, four home runs, 17 RBI, 31 total bases and an .886 slugging percentage.
Brand. New. Ballgame. 💥@sonahalajian pic.twitter.com/pl0bCyRD9j
— UCF Softball (@UCF_Softball) May 10, 2024
Scouting Auburn
In Tallahassee, UCF will first match up against Auburn in the regional’s opener at 2 p.m. ET, marking the fourth all-time contest and the second playoff matchup between the two programs.
The last meeting between the Knights and the Tigers also came in postseason play in Tallahassee, when UCF snagged a 5-4 victory to kick off the 2021 Tallahassee Regional. The Knights bounced back quickly from a 1-0 first-inning deficit, producing a five-run second inning highlighted by a two-run double from Doherty and an RBI single courtesy of Jada Cody.
Though the Tigers posted a 9-15 record within SEC play this spring, Auburn boasts an RPI of 24 with the NCAA’s latest update, made possible in part by seven wins over RPI top 25 squads.
The team earned ranked series wins against the then-No. 6 LSU tigers and then-No. 17 Alabama Crimson Tide, and earned ranked wins over then-No. 13 Utah, then-No. 12 Missouri, then-No. 20 Arkansas, then-No. 4 Tennessee and then-No. 24 Kentucky. Auburn’s series win over LSU represents its two highest-ranked wins by RPI as well, as LSU slots in at No. 4 in the NCAA’s latest update.
— UCF Softball (@UCF_Softball) May 21, 2021Shannon crushes this one into the gap to drive in a pair and put us up 2-1 💪 #ChargeOn
Tune in live on ESPN2
💻 https://t.co/wetK2nUJXn pic.twitter.com/Lm96nPw7eT
Auburn is led by All-SEC Second Teamer Maddie Penta, who represents one of the more dominant arms in the SEC. The senior right-hander has produced her third consecutive season with at least 200 strikeouts, and on nine occasions reached double-digit punchouts in a single game this year, highlighted by her 18-strikeout, nine-inning masterpiece against Ole Miss in Auburn’s 2-1, 11-inning victory April 26.
Penta leads the SEC in punchouts, as the conference’s lone hurler to reach the 200-strikeoout plateau thus far, and represents one of 12 pitchers in the nation with at least 200 strikeouts. She also ranks within the top 10 in the SEC in complete games (14), ERA (1.77), starts (27), fewest hits allowed per seven innings (4.61), innings pitched (182.1), shutouts (7) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.97).
The senior leads a Tigers pitching staff that ranks 32nd in the nation with a 2.47 ERA, bolstered by a defense that has posted a .976 fielding percentage that slots in third in the SEC and 15th in the country.
Scouting Florida State
One of UCF’s two 2023 NCAA Regional opponents, the Seminoles earned the No. 15 overall seed and hosting honors in this year’s tournament on the heels of a 43-14 overall record and a 26-6 mark in ACC play. The squad brings an NCAA RPI ranking of 13 into tournament play as well, second highest in the ACC only to Duke’s No. 3 RPI ranking.
The owner of four top 25 RPI wins and nine RPI top 50 wins this spring, Florida State can stake its claim to a trio of ranked wins, including then-No. 4 Duke, then-No. 12 Florida and then-No. 9 Stanford. The Seminoles’ blanking of the Cardinal during the Clearwater Invitational Feb. 14 represented the third of 12 eventual shutout victories authored by Florida State this spring, and one of just four times Stanford has been held scoreless this season.
The Knights hung with the Seminoles throughout the teams’ 2023 Regional matchup May 20 but were unable to find the key hit they needed in a 5-1 loss to then-No. 3 Florida State, despite outhitting the Seminoles 9-4 in the contest overall. UCF this weekend will be in search of its first win against Florida State since April 6, 2011, a 2-1 victory in Orlando.
Chloe plates our first run once more! pic.twitter.com/xILMcaqeMX
— UCF Softball (@UCF_Softball) May 20, 2023
The Seminoles bring into the tournament a prolific offense led by Jaysoni Beachum, winner of ACC Freshman of the Year honors.
The infielder in just her first collegiate season is the conference’s second-leading hitter with a .436 average that slots in at 11th in the nation overall. She also ranks within the ACC’s top 10 in total hits (75), home runs (15), on-base percentage (.521), RBI (64), slugging percentage (.773) and total bases (133).
Beachum spearheads an offensive charge that leaves her squad with a .339 team batting average that ranks third in the ACC and eighth in the nation. The Seminoles also lead the conference in doubles (93), rank second in on-base percentage (.424), runs per game (7.60) and slugging percentage (.589), and third in home runs per game (1.49).
Scouting Chattanooga
Chattanooga makes an appearance in the 2024 NCAA Tournament as the winner of the SoCon Tournament’s automatic bid. The Mocs’ conference tournament title punctuated a strong 42-14 run through the spring campaign, including a 16-5 record in conference play.
The squad played a pair of close contests against the then-No. 21 Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns and California Golden Bears during its season-opening participation in the Louisiana Classic, including a narrow 1-0 loss to Cal that saw a fifth-inning solo home run mark the difference. The Mocs also boasted a perfect 6-0 record in their six games against RPI 51-100-ranked teams, led by their 6-0 win over Troy (ranked No. 52) March 8.
Chattanooga enters tournament play near the top of the SoCon in a handful of statistical categories, including average (.304, 1st), doubles (81, 1st), ERA (2.81, 1st), fielding percentage (.968, 1st), on-base percentage (.388, 1st), runs per game (5.43, 1st), shutout wins (12, 1st) and slugging percentage (.482, 2nd).
The Knights have met the Mocs just four times in program history, having won each of the last three matchups between the two teams. UCF last played Chattanooga in Clearwater March 9, 2019, coming away with a 4-1 victory that pushed the Black and Gold’s all-time record against the Mocs to 3-1.
UCF will open tournament play against the Auburn Tigers at 2 p.m. ET from JoAnne Graf Field, with the contest set to be broadcast nationally on ESPNU. With a win, UCF would square off against the winner of Florida State’s game against Chattanooga Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.
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