Softball On SI

UCF, Isabella Vega Shut Out No. 4 Florida

Vega became the first UCF rookie to throw a complete-game shutout of at least seven innings against Florida since 2012.

Maren Angus-Coombs

UCF's Isabella Vega pitches a complete-game shutout over the Florida Gators Wednesday night.
UCF's Isabella Vega pitches a complete-game shutout over the Florida Gators Wednesday night. / UCF Athletics

The UCF Knights took the field Wednesday night in total silence. There was no public address or music.

For some, the silence might have been awkward, but the home team had experience playing under these unique circumstances. 

Wearing special uniforms, the Knights hosted their third annual Autism Awareness and Acceptance Game and walked away with a 4-0 win over the visiting No. 4 Florida Gators.

Redshirt freshman Isabella Vega shut down a Florida offense that entered the night ranked in the nation’s top 10 in average (.367), hits (318), home runs (62), on base percentage (.462), RBI (264), runs per game (8.24), slugging percentage (.655), and total runs scored (280). 

Vega scattered five hits across 7.0 innings. She struck out four, and walked one.

“She knows who she is, and she understands that she can utilize her defense when she needs to,” said UCF head coach Cindy Ball-Malone about Vega after the game. “She’s got a few pitches to go to, and she did a great job with controlling the tempo and throwing minimal pitches tonight. Florida’s such a tough offense to throw against, so to match that is really difficult. She’s a great matchup for it.”

UCF got a pair of two-run homers from Aubrey Evans and Izzy Mertes in the first and fifth innings to power the offense.

The win was also significant for the Knights because it was their fifth ranked win of the season, third top-four victory, and second shutout of a ranked opponent this season.

Florida was limited to just three at-bats with runners in scoring position, and the shutout marked its first loss to an in-state opponent this season.

“I just feel blessed. It’s such an amazing experience to have our community come out and celebrate awareness, recognition, and inclusion for autism,” Ball-Malone added. “Then at the same time, to watch our team get after it with our gameplan, they were locked in with every single pitch. It was awesome.”

More news: No. 2 Oklahoma Allows Most Runs Since 2019 in Win Over Wichita State

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Maren Angus-Coombs
MAREN ANGUS-COOMBS

Maren Angus-Coombs was born in Los Angeles and raised in Nashville, Tenn. She is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University and has been a sports writer since 2008. She has been covering college softball since 2016 and spent the 2023 season covering Husker Softball for Hail Varsity. In addition to All Huskers, she is a staff writer for the Los Angeles Sports Report.

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