When the brackets for the NCAA Softball Tournament were unveiled grouping Florida, UCF and FAU together in Gainesville, hitters had to clench their bats just a little bit tighter. Between Aleshia Ocasio (0.70 ERA), Delanie Gourley (0.73 ERA) and two-time defending champion Florida Gators, Shelby Turnier (2.35 ERA) and UCF and Kylee Hanson (0.73 ERA) and FAU.
Strangely, Turnier was not the best pitcher on the day. Still someone that makes batters pause and have to be focused to avoid a dreaded strikeout from the Knights’ all-time wins leader, but not nearly the shutdown pitchers throughout this region.
Turnier though is no one to laugh at. And all it takes is one key hit to change a game in a pitcher’s duel, just like FAU did in a 2-0 win in eight innings against UCF in March.
UCF had a stellar performance from Turnier, giving up just two hits and two walks to FAU, helping set the table for UCF to upset the second-seeded team in the region, FAU, 1-0 in Gainesville, Fla., on Friday.
The Knights have Jasmine Acevedo to thank for that, she blasted a home run in the the fifth inning to deliver the only run of the game.
The Knights are on the board! @UCF_Softball takes the lead 1-0 after a solo shot by Jasmine Acevedo! #D1softball pic.twitter.com/uZZlBocsof
— NCAA Softball (@NCAAsoftball) May 20, 2016
The Knights managed six hits off Kylee Hanson. Hanson still struck out 10 as the Knights struggled to get runners on consistently. It was the kind of pitcher’s duel that requires someone taking advantage of that one mistake a pitcher like Hanson would make.
Acevedo added another hit in the seventh as UCF threatened to put up another run in the inning. FAU was able to hold off.
But the Owls were never able to threaten Turnier and the Knights.
The Knights relied on their typically strong defense to hold off the Owls throughout the game. Turnier had just three strikeouts. But the FAU batters just could not break her or the UCF defense.
UCF had an answer whenever a player got on base and kept FAU off the board.
The Knights are right where they want to be, heading to the 1-0 game against the winner of the Florida/Alabama State. That will likely be the top national seed and two-time defending champion Gators. This is a team that has eliminated UCF more than a few times already in the Knights’ short NCAA tournament history.
That game’s first pitch will be Saturday at noon on ESPN3. Should UCF lose that game, it will play the winner between FAU and the loser of this afternoon’s Florida/Alabama State game at 5 p.m. on Saturday.
