UCF softball had been fighting to get itself noticed and into the star-studded field at the two-week Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. This is where the best of the best of softball come. And coming from the mid-major American Athletic Conference as a non-traditional power.
The Knights had climbed to No. 15 in the polls with a win over the top-5 Alabama Crimson Tide and a close loss at home to the No. 2 Auburn Tigers. This is a team that can stand toe to toe with some very good teams.
Beating them and proving their place with the best in the country — with that dream of hosting a NCAA Softball Tournament regional — is another matter. One UCF still has to prove.
The trip out to the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic ended with UCF returning East empty handed, losing all five of the games against the ranked teams it played in the weekend.
Shelby Turnier pitched the majority of the games for UCF, as she will for most of the team’s big games this year, and struggled out of the gate. She gave up seven runs in 5.2 innings in the opener against No. 25 Texas A&M in a 10-4 loss.
Turnier recovered to strike out 10 in a 2-0 loss to No. 7 UCLA.
The Knights offense got rolling against the Aggies in the first game Friday as Courtney Rotton and freshman catcher Autumn Gillespie kept swinging their bats well.
It continued into Saturday with Gillespie going 3-for-3 including the opening RBI against No. 9 Arizona. But even that would not last. Again Turnier struggled, giving up eight runs as the Wildcats had an 11-run sixth inning against Manami Calixto in a 19-4 run rule victory.
The Knights came out stronger in the nightcap against the No. 4 LSU Tigers, going up 5-3 after two innings. Again, Rotton and Samantha McCloskey provided key hits. But the Tigers scored two in the fourth inning off Turnier to take a 6-5 win.
In the finale, UCF got three consecutive hits to lead off the seventh inning and scored two runs. But could not get the two more it needed across the plate in falling 9-7 to No. 11 Washington. Again Gillespie and McCloskey delivered big hits for UCF throughout the game.
“We knew that this was going to be a tough weekend,” head coach Renee Luers-Gillispie told UCFSports.com. “We were facing every team’s top pitcher, and our offense was solid for us all weekend. They were able to come up with key hits in every game. Now we just have to go back and work on some defensive schemes. This is the point of the season where you either win or you learn, and we learned a lot this weekend.”
The Knights headed home without a victory. It is clear for the Knights to compete with the very best in the country, they will need stellar offense and defense. Turnier did not have her best stuff and got hit a lot in these games.
The offense though did come alive in spots. That is a very encouraging sign as the offense was seen as something of a question mark for this team. There is not a lot of power in the lineup, but just solid hitters who can get singles and get on base.
The Knights will need a lot of hits to record runs this year as they try to nickel and dime their way through the order and against defenses. It has proven effective enough to keep them in most games.
It just seems UCF will need a bit more. The Knights should remain near the top of the nation in RPI thanks to these games and they will have to record some wins to achieve those dreams. There will be plenty of opportunities for that.
This was a learning experience for the young program. There is still work to do to be among the nation’s elite.
