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UCF Knights softball
College softball team From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The UCF Knights softball program represents the University of Central Florida in the sport of softball. The Knights compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Big 12 Conference. The Knights play their home games at the UCF Softball Complex (also known as "the Plex") on UCF's main campus in Orange County, Florida near Orlando.[3] The Knights are coached by head coach Cindy Ball-Malone.[4] In the twenty-three year history of the program, the Knights have won three regular season conference championships, five conference tournament championships, and have earned twelve appearances in the NCAA Tournament (including a Super-Regional Appearance in 2022).
Six UCF Softball players have earned various All-American honors, while UCF Shortstop Stephanie Best was a nominee for the 2005 NCAA Woman Athlete of the Year. After their careers at UCF, several Knights have played in pro-Softball leagues, including: Stephanie Best, Allison Kime, Breanne Javier, Shelby Turnier, Jada Cody, and Sarah Willis. Multiple players have also made National Team squads, including Jada Cody and Jasmine Williams (who both played for the U.S. Women's National Softball Team). [5]
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History
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The Rene Luers-Gillispie Era
The Early Years
The UCF softball program was founded in 2002 under Renee Luers-Gillispie.[6] The Knights played their first games on February 2, losing the first contest 2–3 to Bethune–Cookman, and winning their second game against Arkansas, 6–5.[7] The program played its first four seasons in the Atlantic Sun Conference (now known as the ASUN Conference). In their last year in the conference, the Knights won their first conference tournament championship, defeating Troy twice in one day, and made their first NCAA tournament appearance.[7] In 2005, UCF moved to Conference USA, where they remained until joining the American Athletic Conference in 2014.[8] UCF joined the Big 12 Conference after the 2023 season.[9]
The UCF Softball Complex opened on March 14, 2006, with the Knights winning two games that day, a 10–9 victory over Marshall and a 7–3 win over Furman.[7][10] In 2008, Gillespie would lead the Knights to their second conference tournament championship, their first in C-USA, and their second appearance in the NCAA tournament, by defeating #9 Houston. During the tournament, UCF defeated #1 Florida 1–0. In both 2010 and 2012, Gillespie led the Knights to the NCAA tournament.[7]
During this period, the Knights earned nine no-hitters, including two perfect games.[7] The first two no-hitters in program history were perfect games, and four no-hitters were pitched by Allison Kime.[7] Stephanie Best holds the club record for batting average with .384, home runs with 71 and triples with 13. Best's 71 career home runs record remains in the top-10 all time for NCAA softball players. [7]
UCF in the American Athletic Conference
After joining the American Athletic Conference in 2014, the Knights began a period of dominance in their new league. During their first years in the conference, UCF earned two conference regular season titles, two conference tournament championships, and three NCAA Tournament appearances. The Knights did not loose a conference regular season series during their first three years in the conference (2014 to 2016), winning 17 regular season conference series in a row from 2014 into the 2017 season. [11]
The Knights' success during this period was due in large part to dominant pitching. Two UCF players who owned the mound from 2014 to 2015 were Mackenzie Audas and Shelby Turnier; the duo known around UCF Softball as "Shake-and-Bake." Audas still holds many UCF career pitching records, including career strikeouts (945) and No-Hitters (5). Audas' 78 wins rank third all-time in program history. In 2015, Turnier posted the lowest ERA in the nation (0.87); a UCF single-season record. Turnier became the third UCF pitcher in school history to reach 70 career wins and 800 strikeouts. She ranks second all-time in career wins. A few years later, Alea White took over the mound at UCF, and became the all time leader for wins in program history (99) during her five seasons with the Knights (2017 to 2021). Also during that time, UCF Shortstop/Second Baseman Kahley Novak became the program’s all-time leader in stolen bases (125). [12]
The Cindy Ball-Malone Era
In 2019, Coach Cindy Ball-Malone took over the UCF Softball program when Renee Luers-Gillispie left to become the Head Coach at the University of Iowa. Known as "Coach Bear", Ball-Malone (who had been a successful coach at Boise State) would lead UCF softball to new heights of success. She would later become an Assistant Coach with the United States Women's National Softball team while still the Head Coach at UCF.[13]
In 2022, UCF hosted a regional for the first time, winning the regional final by defeating Michigan 9 to 4. The Knights went on to lose in the Super Regionals to that year's Women's College World Series (WCWS) winners, Oklahoma. During this period, the Knights made five straight NCAA Regional Tournament appearances, and played in the final game of three of those five regional tournaments.
In 2022, UCF First Baseman Shannon Doherty became known as the "Walk-Off Queen" of UCF with three walk-off home runs in wins during that season; two against ranked teams (#12 Georgia; Ole Miss; #5 Virginia Tech). Another legendary player during that period was Jada Cody, who finished her career as the Knights' all-time leader in doubles (54/55), 3rd all-time in total hits (263), and 2nd in RBIs (175) and home runs (39). She recorded 70 hits during the 2023 season and led the nation in hits for a large stretch of that season. On April 28, 2023, UCF Pitcher Sarah Willis pitched a full 7 inning perfect game in a 7-0 win over the Houston Cougars. This was only the 3rd perfect game for a UCF pitcher in program history (the first 7 inning perfect game in UCF Softball history). Willis finished her UCF career ranked sixth in lowest batting average-against (. 198) and lowest ERA (1.98), seventh in saves (3), ninth in winning decisions (29), strikeouts (239), innings pitched (289.2), and shutouts (7), and 10th in complete games (21) at the time of her graduation. In a 2024 1-2 home loss to the Oklahoma Sooners, Willis held that year's Women's College World Series (WCWS) Champions to only two hits; their lowest hits total that year. [14]
UCF ended their 10 years (2014 to 2023) in the American Athletic Conference as the league's most successful program up to that time, with an overall conference record of 126-48-1. The Knights won six Conference Championships during their ten years in the conference (2014 regular season; 2015 regular season and tournament; 2022 regular season and tournament; 2023 tournament).
The Knights Join the Big 12 Conference
UCF Softball's record of excellent performance carried over into the Big-12 Conference, with the Knights playing in their first Big-12 season in 2024. During that season, the Knights won five of their nine conference series (including two sweeps of conference opponents), and Head Coach Cindy Ball-Malone earned her 200th career win at UCF with a road series win at Texas Tech. She also earned her 300th career win overall as a coach that season. At the end of their first season in the Big 12, the Knights placed 5th in the conference behind three teams that made it to that season's Women's College World Series (WCWS) (Oklahoma, Texas, and Oklahoma State); and placing just behind a Baylor team that played in a Super Regional that season. Their 2024 NCAA Tournament appearance was their 4th in a row. [15]
The story of UCF Knights Shortstop Jasmine Williams also gained national attention during this period. She had been the highest rated recruit in the history of the University of Oregon's Softball program when she starting playing there as a Freshman in 2019, but put her college softball career on hold when she became pregnant with her son. Williams had a popular following on social media (up to 100,000 followers), much of it driven by videos she had posted of fun dances she did with one of her Oregon teammates. But after she announced her pregnancy by posting a picture of herself with her baby's father, Williams became the victim of online racial vitriol due to the fact that she was Caucasian and her baby's father was African American. She returned to Oregon to play, but did not see the field in her last season with the Ducks and no longer felt comfortable at Oregon. UCF Coach Ball-Malone had known Williams from their days on the USA U19 National Team (Williams as a player; Ball-Malone as an Assistant Coach), and invited Williams to come to UCF. She would play for two seasons with the Knights (2023-24), earning all-conference honors in 2023. ESPN's Andrea Adelson profiled Williams' story on ESPN in 2024.[16] Williams also appeared in that year's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, along with other players from women's programs in the Big 12 Conference.[17]
The 2025 season was expected to be a re-build year, as the team was made up of roughly 60% Sophomore and Freshmen players. Despite that, the Knights finished 35-24-1 overall (.500 in conference play), and earned their first 3-game series sweep on the road against a top-five ranked opponent in program history (#4 Arizona). They tacked on four more top-25 wins in the regular season before moving on to their 5th-straight NCAA Tournament appearance, and 3rd regional final in five seasons. UCF continued their tradition of pitching excellence as well, thanks in large part to Freshman standout Isabella Vega. During her first year with the program, Vega was one of the Big-12's best pitchers, named First Team All-Big 12, D1Softball Freshman All-America First Team, and NFCA All Region First Team. Senior Pitcher Kaitlyn Felton also earned All Regional honors and multiple Big 12 Pitcher of the Week awards. [18]
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Rivalries
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University of South Florida (the War on I-4)
The UCF Knights have had a long time rivalry with the University of South Florida Bulls, who's campus is 90 miles from Orlando in Tampa. This rivalry, known as "the War on I-4" (named for the interstate highway that connects Orlando and Tampa), has encompassed all sports played by both schools, but it has been just as intense in Softball as it has in any other sport played by the two rival universities. The two softball teams played their first game against each other in 2003, with the Bulls winning the first eight games in the series before the Knights notched their first win against Bulls in 2006.
When UCF and South Florida were both members of the American Athletic Conference, both schools developed an all sports "War on I-4" trophy that would be awarded to one of the two schools on an annual basis based on their head-to-head record in all sports played that year.
During the American Athletic Conference years, the Knights came to dominate the series against the Bulls by a 22 to 10 margin, including 12 straight wins by UCF in the series before the Knights left the conference at the end of the 2023 season. During these years, the Knights defeated the Bulls twice by run rule, but also played 3 extra inning games which saw the Knights win 2 of the 3 matchups.
The final game in the series as of 2025 was in the 2023 American Athletic Conference Softball Tournament, which saw the Knights take down the Bulls 2-0 in the conference semi-final game. Since the Knights have joined the Big 12 Conference, the rivalry is now dormant as there are no future games on the schedule between the two teams as of the end of the 2025 season.
Overall series record: UCF 24 wins, South Florida 19 wins.[19]
University of Florida
The UCF Knights Softball program and the University of Florida Gators Softball program have a long history of playing each other, going back to the 2003 season. Although the Gators have dominated the series by a 26 to 7 margin, the Knights have been able to score periodic wins over the Gators during the course of the series (the first in 2005). In more recent years (between 2021 and 2025), the Knights have closed the margin, winning three of the past seven matchups in the series. This included a dramatic walk-off 8-6 win by the Knights in Orlando in 2021, with the winning two-run home run scored by UCF Catcher Karissa Orneias. In the most recent matchup as of 2025, the Knights took down the Gators 4-0 in a regular season meeting in Orlando on March 26, 2025. The two teams play each other during the regular season most years, and have often met up in NCAA Regional Tournaments. Both UCF Coach Cindy Ball-Malone and Florida Coach Tim Walton have expressed a desire to continue the series on a regular basis as much as scheduling conflicts will allow. The next games between the two programs will be a home-and-home two-game series in the 2026 season.
Overall series record: Florida 26 wins, UCF 7 wins. [20]
Florida Atlantic University
The UCF and Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Softball programs have the longest history of any of UCF's in-state rivalries, with the two teams first squaring off in UCF's first softball season (2002). In the period from 2002 to 2008, the Owls owned a winning record over the Knights, winning the series during that period by a 13 to 6 margin. The series was dormant from 2008 until 2014, but the two teams resumed play in the 2014 season, and have played each other in most years since that time. Since 2014, the Knights have turned the tables on the Owls, with UCF dominating the series by a 11 to 2 margin. The Knights have won the last seven matchups in the series, with the most recent being a 3-0 road win over the then #22 ranked Owls on FAU's home field in Boca Raton. The two programs plan to continue the series into the near future, with the next matchup scheduled to be played in Orlando during the 2026 season.
Overall series record: UCF 17 wins, FAU 15 wins.[21]
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Coaches
Coaching Honors
Renee Luers-Gillispie: American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year (2017)
Cindy Ball-Malone: Extra Innings Softball National Coach of the Year (2022)
UCF Softball Coaching Staff Collective Awards: NCAA Regional Coaching Staff of the Year (2017); American Athletic Conference Coaching Staff of the Year (2022); NFCA Mideast Region Coaching Staff of the Year (2022) [22]
Notable Players
All-American Honors
Stephanie Best: 2005 ESPN the Magazine All-American First Team
Mackenzie Audas: 2015 Capital One All-American First Team
Shelby Turnier: 2015 NFCA Division I First Team All-American.
Jada Cody: 2022 D1Softball First Team & Softball America Second Team.
Isabella Vega: 2025 D1Softball Freshman First Team & Softball America Freshman Team.
Beth Damon: 2025 D1Softball Freshman Second Team
Other Notable Player Recognitions
Stephanie Best: 2005 nominee, NCAA Woman Athlete of the Year; multiple Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-Southeast Region honors.
UCF Athletics Hall of Fame
Name and Year Inducted: Stephanie Best (2015), Allison Kime (2019), Natalie Land (2021), Mackenzie Audas (2022), Shelby Turnier (2023).
Knights in the Pros
National Pro Fastpitch: Stephanie Best, Allison Kime, Breanne Javier, Shelby Turnier, Kahley Novak
Women's Professional Fast Pitch (WPF): Stormy Kotzelnick, Kaitlyn Felton, Jada Cody, Sona Halajian
Athletes Unlimited (AU): Sarah Willis
Knights on National Softball Teams
U.S. National Softball Team: Jada Cody, Jasmine Williams
Puerto Rico National Softball Team: Yessenia Lopez
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Seasons
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See also
References
External links
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