ORLANDO — The UCF softball team has concluded a successful season-opening homestand, and is now set for its first stint away from home this spring.
The Knights will take their 6-2 record on I-4 west to Clearwater to square off against five opposing schools over three days, including a pair of ranked squads in No. 5 Texas A&M Friday and No. 6 Florida State Sunday evening in the Shriners Children's Clearwater Invitational.
UCF also faced Auburn on Friday and will battle Clemson (9 a.m.) and Ohio State (1 p.m.) today (Saturday). All of the games will be streamed on ESPN+ and the Knights and FSU will square off at 8 p.m. on Sunday nationally on ESPN.
UCF’s strong start has been led by a dominant showing by its pitching staff. The trio of senior Kaitlyn Felton and freshmen Yessenia Lopez and Isabella Vega paced the staff in recording a 2.04 ERA (13 earned runs in 55 innings).
Vega stole the spotlight in a breakout performance Tuesday, spinning seven scoreless frames in relief in a 6-5, 8-inning walkoff win against the No. 15 Missouri Tigers to play a key role in the largest ranked comeback victory in program history and UCF’s first top-15 ranked win since 2022.
Unfortunately, the Knights’ 5-game winning streak came to an end on Wednesday, as No. 20 Liberty rallied with three runs in the sixth inning to pull out a 5-4 victory.
Felton garnered her first career Big 12 Pitcher of the Week honor for her efforts during the weekend Black and Gold Classic, throwing 10.2 scoreless frames that featured her first save of the spring and her first seven-inning complete game shutout against the Illinois Fighting Illini Feb. 9. The veteran right-hander enters play in the Clearwater Invitational still sporting a spotless 0.00 ERA in 12.1 total innings, accompanied by a team-best .122 batting average-against (5-for-41).
Offensively, redshirt senior Stormy Kotzelnick has represented the team’s most consistent producer through eight games, as the Carmel, Indiana, native boasts a .429/.538/.524 (9-for-21) line with two doubles, 11 total bases and five RBI entering the team’s first road trip of the year.
Kotzelnick has hit safely in six of UCF’s first eight games, highlighted by a 3-for-3 showing with a pair of doubles and two RBI in UCF’s comeback against 15th-ranked Missouri, marking her second multi-hit effort of the week.
Freshman infielder Izzy Mertes has also enjoyed a fast start to her collegiate career, as she represents her team’s leader in doubles with six to accompany an overall .391/.391/.652 (9-for-23) line with five RBI.
Mertes’ 2-for-4 display against the Flames Wednesday served as her third multi-hit game in her last four outings, as well as her fourth two-hit contest overall this season. She swatted a pair of doubles in UCF’s victory over No. 15 Missouri, already her second multi-double game of the first week.
