UCF softball heads to AAC tournament aiming to defend title
Riding a season-long 10-game win streak, UCF softball heads into the American Athletic Conference tournament with the top pitcher in the league.
After posting a 0.79 ERA in conference play, right-hander Sarah Willis was named AAC pitcher of the year on Wednesday and became the first Knight to earn the annual award since Shelby Turnier in 2015.
Along with Jada Cody, Shannon Doherty, Micaela Macario and Kennedy Searcy, Willis earned first-team All-AAC honors while Chloe Evans, Jasmine Williams and Aubrey Evans received second-team all-conference recognition.
Aubrey Evans also earned a spot on the league’s all-freshman squad.
This year’s conference tournament will be held at the USF Softball Stadium in Tampa for just the second time and first since 2018.
The Knights (36-19, 15-3 AAC) enter the tournament as the No. 2 seed and will face No. 7 Memphis in the quarterfinals on Thursday (12:30 p.m., ESPN+) after dropping just one game in their last 18.
The game was originally scheduled for 2 p.m. but was moved up due to inclement weather, UCF said. The winner will face the winner of No. 3 USF and No. 6 ECU, who play later in the afternoon.
Although UCF’s regular season got off to a bumpy start — the Knights began conference action sitting at 18-16 overall — Cindy Ball-Malone’s squad was able to earn a top-two seed in the conference tournament for the second straight year. It also marked the third consecutive season UCF claimed 15 or more wins within league play.
All of that, however, is now behind the Knights as they aim to defend their AAC tournament championship from a year ago.
Perhaps the toughest team standing in their way is Wichita State. Outside of Willis being named pitcher of the year, the Shockers won the majority of the conference’s individual awards.
Sydney McKinney was named player of the year, Sami Hood shared defensive player of the year with USF’s Kathy Garcia-Soto, Alex Aguilar received rookie of the year and the Wichita State’s coaches got coaching staff of the year.
The Shockers finished 16-2 in league play, tying the record for most wins in an 18-game league schedule by any AAC team since 2014.
Before UCF potentially meets Wichita State in the AAC tournament final, however, the Knights must first get past Memphis in the opening round and advance through the semifinals.
Recent history is on UCF’s side.
Just this past weekend, the Knights outscored the Tigers 19-5 in the three matchups, which included a 10-0 run-rule victory in the regular-season finale Sunday afternoon.
Should UCF meet either USF or ECU in the semifinals on Friday, the teams would play each other at 2:30 p.m. on ESPN+. The Knights swept both opponents in the regular season.
The AAC softball championship game is scheduled for Saturday at 11 a.m. on ESPN2 and the winner earns the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Email Jason Beede at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @therealBeede.
