UCF captures 2nd AAC tournament title
A year ago, UCF softball fell short of its goal of winning an American Athletic Conference tournament championship losing to Wichita State 7-4 in the title game.
The Knights returned to the championship game Saturday in
Greenville, N.C., and took care of business this time by defeating rival South Florida 11-0 in five innings to capture the program’s first AAC tournament title since 2015.
UCF’s Jada Cody and Shannon Doherty each hit three-run home runs while Kama Woodall pitched five shutout innings en route to the program’s fourth overall conference tournament title.
This year’s tournament championship by UCF joins the program’s 2005 Atlantic Sun, 2008 Conference USA and 2015 AAC tournament titles.
“It’s everything,” UCF coach Cindy Ball-Malone said on winning the tournament title. “With this group, as a coach, I like to be in the moment but my job is to have a forward vision.
“This group has said it from Day 1, they want to win the regular season, they want to win the conference tournament and host regionals.”
The Knights (46-12) accomplished those first two goals and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament but will have to wait until Sunday night to find out if they’ll host an NCAA regional. UCF, who entered the weekend ranked No. 17 in the country by three major softball media outlets, will learn their spot in the tournament Sunday at 7 p.m. on ESPN2. The top 16 seeds host a regional.
The 11 runs by UCF set a tournament record for the AAC champi
onship final and marked the first time that the championship game ended with the eight-run rule.
The Knights scored early and often with Doherty blasting a three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning. Johneisha Rowe drove in Denali Schappacher to make it 4-0 after the first.
Cody, who was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament, reached 69 RBIs on the year with her threerun home in the bottom of the second inning to pass Stephanie Best’s 2003 single-season record of 66 RBIs.
Cody’s 12th home run of the season gave UCF a 7-0 lead through two innings.
Holding USF (44-14) to just three hits, the Knights added four more runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Ashleigh Griffin singled with the bases loaded to score Maddie Bejarano to make it 8-0. An error by USF let another run score before Justene Molina delivered a 2-RBI single with two outs to give UCF an 11-0 lead heading to the fifth.
“Seeing how they’re so adamant about what they want to do and how they want to do it shows that they’ve bought in 100 percent,” Ball-Malone said. “[I’m] super proud of them. We are who we are because we are diverse and dynamic.”