The players on the UCF softball team entered this weekend’s NCAA regional tournament with massive chips on their shoulders.
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The Knights had failed to reach a Super Regional in their previous four visits to the Tallahassee Regional. To make matters worse, the program was winless against host Florida State in its six previous postseason meetings.
And the Knights would have to get past No. 9 national seed FSU if they wanted their season to continue.
UCF entered Sunday’s action unbeaten in the double-elimination tournament, needing to win once to claim the regional title. The one-loss Seminoles beat the Knights 2-1 to open play, forcing a winner-take-all game. This time, the Knights held their ground and won the decider 4-2 to advance to a Super Regional for just the second time in their history.
UCF improved to 41-16-1 while moving to the Super Regional round for the first time since 2022. Florida State ended its season 52-10. The Knights will play the winner of the Los Angeles Regional, either No. 8 national seed UCLA or South Carolina. The Super Regional games will take place Thursday through next Sunday with the exact schedule to be determined.
“I’m so proud of the fight that they had,” said UCF coach Cindy Ball-Malone. “It’s really, really difficult to play here. Florida State had one of the best cheers and their fan base and everything else is so tough, so I’m just so proud of the resilience of our team to stay together and fight.”
In the championship game, UCF struck early as catcher Beth Damon hit a two-run home run off Florida State starter Ashtyn Danley (13-3) in the bottom of the first inning. It was Damon’s 16th homer of the season and also scored Kendall Yarnell to stake the Knights to a 2-0 lead.
Tori Payne (4-0) started in the circle for the Knights and cruised until the top of the third inning. FSU catcher Anne Hinde stroked a single into center field, driving in third baseman Jaysoni Beachum to cut the lead to 2-1.
Lena Elkins came in to relieve Payne and walked first baseman Hayley Griggs to load the bases.
On the next play, right fielder Shelby McKenzie slapped a single up the middle, scoring three runs. But Ball-Malone challenged the play, saying that Hinde had left second base early. After a review, umpires ruled her out, erasing the runs and ending the inning.
“Taylor Kittleman, one of our players, saw it,” Ball-Malone said of her redshirt sophomore outfielder. “We have assignments in the dugout, like everyone is a starter in the game in some way and she saw it and we went with it. She was 100% convinced in what she saw, so we went with that before we went with anything else that we were going to talk about in that play, and what an incredible moment for her.”
After a 1-2-3 bottom of the third, Florida State went on the attack.
McKenzie was walked and advanced to second on a fielder’s choice by centerfielder Kennedy Harp. But UCF used its second challenge of the game, arguing that McKenzie was out at second base and once again, the umpires agreed.
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However, second baseman Makenna Sturgis singled on a bunt to give the Seminoles two on with two outs.
Reagan Vokoun relieved Elkins but surrendered an RBI single to shortstop Isa Torres to tie the game at 2-2. With runners on second and third, Payne re-entered the game and walked Beachum, but she managed to get Danley to fly out to end the inning.
Left fielder Izzy Mertes’ two-run home run off of FSU reliever Bella Dimitrijevic in the bottom of the fourth inning helped UCF retake the lead, 4-2. It was Mertes’ 12th homer of the season.
“I was just trying to have a good at-bat for my team,” said Mertes. “A new pitcher came in, so I just tried to attack that girl early, get her out. There was a runner on first, so I was just trying to score runs when we could. We didn’t have very, very many runners on, but when we did, I knew we needed to get them in.”
Danley returned to the pitching mound and got the final two outs of the inning.
Florida State 2, UCF 1
In the opening game Sunday, UCF got on the scoreboard first. Shortstop Aubrey Evans’ two-out, RBI double scored center fielder Samantha Rey in the top of the third inning to give the Knights a 1-0 lead. It was Evans’ fourth hit and fifth RBI of the regional.
Florida State responded in the bottom half of the inning after first baseman Haley Griggs crushed a 2-2 pitch over the left field wall for a lead-off home run to tie the game 1-1. It was Griggs’ seventh homer of the season.
The Seminoles continued their power display as freshman designated hitter Anna Hinde sent a 3-1 pitch over the left field wall for a solo home run and a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning.
FSU starter Jazzy Francik (24-3) gave up one run and two hits while striking out four and walking one in 6⅔ innings before reliever Danley got the final out.
Isabella Vega (18-9), who was making her first postseason start after back-to-back relief appearances, surrendered two runs on three hits while walking two and striking out four in the loss.
Complete Tallahassee Regional results
Friday
Game 1 – Stetson 8, Florida State 3
Game 2 – UCF 2, Jacksonville State 1 (8)
Saturday
Game 3 – UCF 10, Stetson 1 (5)
Game 4 – Florida State 11, Jacksonville State 0 (5); Jacksonville State eliminated
Game 5 – Florida State 11, Stetson 3; Stetson eliminated
Sunday
Game 6 – Florida State 2, UCF 1
Game 7 – UCF 4, Florida State 2; UCF wins regional
Please find me on X, Bluesky or Instagram @osmattmurschel. Email: [email protected]. Sign up for the Sentinel’s Knights Weekly newsletter for a roundup of all our UCF coverage.
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