Opening day jitters had gotten a bit to the No. 17 UCF Knights as they played the Liberty Lady Flames in their opener at the UCF Softball Complex on Thursday.
Shelby Turnier was struggling a bit in the All-American’s first start of the year and the Knights found them down. Something had to uncork them and get them going. Something had to just get everyone to breathe.
Three pitches into the third inning, the Knights had that deep breath. And a deep ball.
“We just wanted to come out strong,” Jessica Ujvari said. “We’ve been putting in a lot of preparation and hard work. Just seeing good pitches. I happened to take it far whether it was an 0-2 count or not, I just stay focused. It felt good.”
.@jessicaujvari evens the score with a solo shot to lead off the bottom of the inning. #ChargeOnhttps://t.co/zfeMkXZq9B
— UCF Softball (@UCF_Softball) February 11, 2016
Jessica Ujvari’s home run to left centerfield tied the game at one and took a bit of the lid off the offense. The Knights had their offense going and hitting became contagious as they tallied five runs in the following inning to cement a 7-2 win over the Lady Flames.
The Knights led the fourth inning off with a double and proceeded to bat around through the inning. Autumn Gillespie scored on Linnea Goodman’s single. Goodman scored on Courtney Rotton’s single. Brittney Solis came around on a single from Kalyn Cenal.
It was single after single. Solid at bat after solid at bat. Good battle after good battle. Liberty could not stop the bleeding even when the team switched pitchers. The Knights were just rolling downhill.
What a shot from @KalynCenal09! UCF extends its lead to 5-2 with one out in the bottom of the fourth! #ChargeOnhttps://t.co/Svij3sifiZ
— UCF Softball (@UCF_Softball) February 11, 2016
Everything was breaking their way as they hit the ball to the right gaps and deftly placed the ball into the outfield one at bat at a time.
“I think they were feeding off each other,” coach Renee Luers-Gillispie said. “You could see they were just feeding off each other in that inning. We did a great job laying down bunts when we needed to and moving runners into scoring position. The first game is always a tough one. It’s one you just have to get under your belt and see where you need to tweak things.”
Ujvari scored one of her two runs in that inning, reaching on a fielder’s choice for the second out. She made up for it in the fifth with her second RBI on the day as she finished 2 for 4 on the day. Cenal had two RBIs in that five-run fourth inning, brining Tiffany Lower (pinch running for Ujvari) and Solis home to cap off that inning.
The No. 17 Knights were far from perfect though. There was rust to shake off, including falling behind 1-0 early and 2-1 after Ujvari’s home run in the top of the fourth.
Shelby Turnier was not incredibly sharp, giving up a triple in the first inning when the team was aligned for a slap hit but instead got caught peaking in too much. The ball flew over Jasmine Acevedo’s head in center field for Tory Zavodny to get to third base.
Turnier pitched 5.0 innings, giving up three hits and two earned runs. She struck out just one of the 18 batters she faced.
UCF stranded the bases loaded in the second inning, so there were still plenty of opportunities left on the field and plenty to improve upon.
It was clearly enough to get the job done in the end and the Knights got two shutout innings from junior college transfer Manami Calixto.
It felt very much like the first game of the year.
“I’m really proud of our pitchers too,” Ujvari said. “They stayed composed on the mound. We weren’t really pressured going up to the plate. It didn’t matter if it was one run or two runs, we believe in ourselves and what we bring to the field and to the program to get those runs back for our pitchers. We did well all around. I’m really proud with how we did this first game.”
If this was Turnier and the pitching struggling, it still gives the offense plenty of opportunity to produce.
Of course, the road gets more difficult in the immediate future. The Knights continue their tournament against Rutgers and then No. 5 Alabama in a major opportunity to continue building this program and its reputation.
To build that up and get the chance it is going to take the exact kind of play the Knights had through the fourth inning. Building a lead single by single.
“You want to be able to see what we need to do to make adjustments,” Gillispie said. “I felt like they did a great job adjusting. Shelby did a great job adjusting. She was off a little bit the first inning or so. But did a nice job settling in and helping us out.
“I think overall we’re learning from that and they’ll be stronger in tomorrow’s game.”
