{"id":270979,"date":"2026-05-14T15:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T15:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/270979\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T15:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T15:26:09","slug":"tallahassee-regional-offers-redemption-for-ucf-softball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/270979\/","title":{"rendered":"Tallahassee Regional offers redemption for UCF softball"},"content":{"rendered":"

UCF<\/a> softball is making its sixth straight appearance in the NCAA tournament<\/a> and its third postseason trip to Florida State\u2019s JoAnne Graf Field in the past four seasons.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a struggle for the Knights, who haven\u2019t advanced past the Tallahassee Regional in the previous four trips.<\/p>\n

UCF is 6-8 all-time at the regional site, including an 0-6 mark against host FSU.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re a great program. They have a great environment, but I think we\u2019re ready,\u201d said senior infielder Aubrey Evans.<\/p>\n

The 6th-seeded Knights (38-16-1) will host Jacksonville State (45-14) on Friday (2:30 p.m., ESPN+), with the winner set to face the winner between No. 9 FSU (49-8) and Stetson (36-20), who play earlier in the day (Noon, ESPNU) as part of the double-elimination tournament.<\/p>\n

With a possible showdown with the Seminoles on deck, UCF is making sure not to overlook the Gamecocks, who captured the Conference USA championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game we\u2019re playing is the most important game,\u201d said UCF junior infielder Sierra Humphreys, who leads the team with 56 RBIs. \u201cWe can\u2019t look past that. I think if everybody\u2019s on their A game and we come out every single day, like we\u2019re supposed to be there, we\u2019ll come out on top.\u201d<\/p>\n

UCF enters the tournament ranked 33rd in earned run average (3.06) and 40th in batting average (.325), while JSU ranks 49th in ERA (3.34) and 86th in batting average (.307).<\/p>\n

UCF remains focused on forcing turnovers: \u2018That\u2019s not negotiable. We gotta get that ball out\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a strong regional, which just speaks so highly to our game and the parity in it,\u201d said longtime UCF coach Cindy Ball-Malone<\/a>. \u201cI loved our response from our team when they saw our name up there. They wanted that regional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ball-Malone believes her team enters this weekend with a chip on their shoulder.<\/p>\n

Last season, UCF reached the Austin Regional finals, only to lose to eventual National Champion Texas, 9-0. The Knights have advanced to a Super Regional just once (2022) in the program\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

UCF is also coming off a disappointing first-round loss in the Big 12 Tournament last week, losing to No. 5 Kansas, 6-5.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve just got to learn from the Big 12,\u201d said Evans, who is batting .324 with 10 home runs and 36 RBIs. \u201cIt\u2019s in the past. So we\u2019re 0-0, no stats to our name. It\u2019s a whole new season. We just need the right mindset. We can\u2019t look past Jacksonville State either on Friday, it\u2019s another good program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evans is one of 11 upperclassmen on a roster that includes eight seniors and three juniors. Many of those players have been around the program for a while and understand the importance of this weekend, particularly with a possible matchup against Florida State.<\/p>\n

The Knights have been outscored by the Seminoles, 22-3.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve talked a lot about this team and what we can do and what we can accomplish. \u2026 I\u2019m really excited to be back at FSU, because I think we have some unfinished business,\u201d said Evans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so proud of them and the footprint that they\u2019re leaving here at UCF,\u201d Ball-Malone said of the seniors. \u201cThey\u2019re not done yet and we still have a lot of work to do, but it\u2019s something that they set out to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

SCHEDULE<\/p>\n

Friday
Game 1 \u2013 Noon: FSU vs. Stetson (ESPNU)
Game 2 \u2013 2:30 p.m.: UCF vs. Jacksonville State (ESPN+)
Saturday
Game 3 \u2013 Noon: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2
Game 4 \u2013 2:30 p.m.: Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2
Game 5 \u2013 5:00 p.m.: Winner of Game 4 vs. Loser of Game 3
Sunday
Game 6 \u2013 Noon: Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 5
Game 7* \u2013 2:30 p.m.: Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 5
*(If necessary)<\/p>\n

Please find me on X, Bluesky or Instagram @osmattmurschel. Email: mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com<\/a>. Sign up for the Sentinel\u2019s Knights Weekly<\/a> newsletter for a roundup of all our UCF coverage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UCF softball is making its sixth straight appearance in the NCAA tournament and its third postseason trip to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[111,28,114,1335,139,76046,110,232,234,233,3865],"class_list":["post-270979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-college-sports","tag-florida","tag-latest-headlines","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-social-sports","tag-sports","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news","tag-ucf-knights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}