Courtesy of Central Florida and Missouri Athletics
CLERMONT, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – Freshman Courtney Rotton’s first collegiate hit was a three-run homer that gave the UCF softball team a 4-0 win over No. 13 Minnesota on Sunday afternoon at the Dot Richardson National Collegiate Softball Invitational in Clermont. The Knights improve to 8-0, the best start in school history.
“I just went after it, like it was my kind of pitch,” Rotton said. “I was excited that I got the opportunity to be able to go in and pinch hit to be able to help my team out.”
In her third complete-game shutout, junior Shelby Turnier picked up her second win over a ranked opponent this weekend, striking out two of Minnesota’s first three batters to keep the Gophers scoreless. She recorded a season-best 12 strikeouts in her fourth win of the season, allowing just four hits and two walks.
“I am so proud of this team,” UCF head coach Renee Luers-Gillispie said. “Shelby was absolutely solid for us the entire weekend. It was great to see Jessica Ujvari and Courtney Rotton hit their first home runs of the season. This team stayed up all weekend and it really showed.”
The Knights had early chances, as sophomore Willow Kalinen notched the first UCF hit of the game with a single to center field, but were unable to plate a run until the third inning. Junior Jessica Ujvari hit her first home run of the season to give the Knights a 1-0.
With two outs in the bottom of the fourth, senior Farrah Sullivan reached on a Minnesota fielding error and sophomore Brittany Solis put runners on second and third with a double to center field. Rotton, a Clermont native, was inserted into the lineup as a pinch hitter, and sent a 2-0 pitch over the center field wall to break the game open.
Turnier and the UCF defense limited the Gophers to just two hits in the last three innings and handed Minnesota to its first loss of the season.
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Softball split a doubleheader on day two at the Dot Richardson Invitational in Clermont, Fla., moving to 3-1 on the season. The Tigers dropped a tight 1-0 contest to UCF, but responded and beat Cleveland State, 4-2, in the afternoon.
Mizzou’s opening game of the doubleheader against UCF featured a gritty pitching duel. Sophomore pitcher Tori Finucane (Germantown, M.D.) matched the Golden Knights’ Shelby Turnier inning for inning until the seventh frame.
Finucane threw 6.1 innings in the circle, allowing just four hits and zero earned runs. She struck out four and walked only three batters.
Turnier tossed a complete game shutout and kept Mizzou at bay until the seventh inning. With one out, junior Emily Crane (Troy, Mo.) slapped a single up the middle and stole second for her second swipe of the season in two attempts.
Then sophomore Kirsten Mack (Riverside, Calif.) worked a full count wa
