NORMAN, OK — Led by a standout offensive showing by the squad’s native of Oklahoma, the UCF softball team kicked off its stay at Oklahoma’s Okana Invitational with an 8-4 win over the St. Thomas Tommies before falling in game two, 6-0, to the host and No. 2 nationally-ranked Oklahoma Sooners at Love’s Field Friday evening.
Due to inclement weather in the Norman area on Saturday, the team's game against No. 2 Oklahoma was canceled and will not be made up.
In her first collegiate game playing in her home state, freshman catcher Beth Damon, from Edmond, just 40 minutes north of Norman, recorded her second career multi-home run game and fourth career three-hit game in leading her team to its four-run win.
After St. Thomas jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, the Knights drew up an immediate response in the form of a three-run home half of the frame.
A Sierra Humphreys leadoff single, followed immediately by a double off the bat of Samantha Rey, allowed junior infielder Aubrey Evans to bring in the tying run with a groundout to second base, and moments before Damon sent the first pitch over the leftfield wall for a two-run, go-ahead home run.
The Black and Gold added on in the second, again getting consecutive hits to begin the frame. Redshirt freshman Taylor Kittleman lined a double to right field and fifth year senior Madison Simon ripped an RBI single back up the middle. A Rey sacrifice fly to left later in the inning would bring in UCF’s fifth score of the contest.
Redshirt freshman Isabella Vega, meanwhile, had settled in after yielding the earlier Tommies score. She recorded her third strikeout in a bounce-back second inning and fanned her fourth St. Thomas hitter in a perfect top of the third.
After the Tommies plated their second tally in the fourth, the Knights again answered, cashing in on Humphreys’ leadoff single and Damon’s second home run of the game to left-center. The Knights would tack on their eighth run in the fifth inning on a Simon RBI double that just stayed fair down the left field line that plated Kittleman.
St. Thomas answered with two runs in the fifth before UCF head coach Cindy Ball-Malone called upon senior right-hander Kaitlyn Felton to close out the affairs.
Felton was dominant in her 21st appearance of the year, spinning three hitless frames en route to her fourth save of the season and seventh of her career, tying Alea White (2017-21) for fourth-most on the UCF all-time career list, and pulled into a tie for second-most in a single season with White (2018), Gianna Mancha (2021), Shelby Turnier (2015) and Mackenzie Audas (2013).
Against the second-ranked Sooners in the nightcap, the Black and Gold got their three hits from Humphreys, Evans and first baseman Ashleigh Griffin.
Up Next:
UCF will return to action against the BYU Cougars in Provo, Utah, on Thursday with first pitch from Gail Miller Field at Miller Park scheduled for 8 p.m. The 3-game Big 12 Conference Series will conclude with games on Friday (8 p.m.) and Saturday (2 p.m.). The games will be streamed on ESPN+ and live stats can also be followed at ucf.statbroadcast.com.
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