Everything You Need To Know About UCF Softball For The Big 12 Tournament

The Knights are the 4 seed and set to take on 5-seed Kansas in the tournament's first game at noon on Thursday.

The Jayhawks, who are only just half a game behind UCF in the Big 12 standings, are less than a month out from their visit to The Plex from April 17-19 for Senior Weekend. The Knights took two of three games, with one of them coming down to extra innings.

Kansas sports the unanimously selected Big 12 Freshman of the Year, Ella Boyer, one of the Big 12's co-Defensive Players of the Year, shortstop Hailey Cripe, and two All-Big 12 First Team selections in Boyer and Anna Soles.

Should the Knights triumph in this game, they would then take on the winner of 1-seed Texas Tech and 8-seed Baylor at 4 p.m. on Friday. Both teams earned series wins against UCF at The Plex during the regular season.

The Big 12 Championship is set to begin at noon on Saturday.

2. Players To Watch

Six Knights players earned All-Big 12 selections this season:

• All-Big 12 First Team pitcher Isabella Vega has served as the Knights' ace all. She has pitched in 38.8% of all of UCF's innings this season and ranks in the Top 10 in the Big 12 with a 2.88 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP. She also leads the league and is sixth in the nation with five saves.

• All-Big 12 First Team infielder Sierra Humphreys is coming off earning D1Softball's National Player of the Week honor. She has had a breakout season offensively that's seen her hit 13 home runs, lead the team with 56 RBIs, which is also in the Top 10 of the Big 12, and record the team's second-highest slugging percentage at .742.

• All-Big 12 Second Team Catcher Beth Damon leads the league in batters thrown out and shares it in hit-by-pitches. She also has the third-highest slugging percentage on the team at .678, thanks to her 14 home runs being tied for the most on the team.

• All-Big 12 Second Team infielder Aubrey Evans ranks second in the Big 12 and 26th in the nation in assists and in the league's Top 10 in runs scored this season. She is also one of five Knights to have hit double-digit home runs this season with 10, and has only struck out seven times all season in 168 at-bats.

• All-Big 12 Second Team utility player Izzy Mertes is also in the double-digit home runs club with 11 and leads the team with 15 doubles, the sixth-most in the Big 12. She also ranks 11th in the league with 52 RBIs.

• All-Big 12 Second Teamer utility player Samantha Rey sports the highest on-base percentage on the team of any player that's been in more than 50 games at .471.

Other players to watch that did not earn All-Big 12 honors include the player with the team's highest slugging percentage, Kendall Yarnell, and its stolen base leader, Zoe Calvez.

3. Key To the Tournament: Pitching Depth

Aside from Vega, none of UCF's other pitchers have gone more than 56 innings in the circle this season. Freshman Hildie Dempsey showed promise with a 1.88 ERA through 41 innings with six starts, but an ACL and meniscus injury has sidelined her for the rest of the season.

Another freshman, Ava Stuewe, is the only pitcher besides Vega to face more than 200 batters, but she sports a 3.50 ERA, and her 16 wild pitches lead the Big 12. Two more freshmen, Reagan Voukoun and Tori Payne, are the only other pitchers to earn significant looks as starters, yet both of them have only pitched 28.1 innings each this season, going into the Big 12 Tournament.

While Vega should have the stamina to pitch as much as is required from her, she tended to give up more runs the more times opposing batters had seen her. It's to the point that her ERA this season is over one run higher than last season's, despite a similar amount of innings pitched.

This tournament is going to test both Vega and opposing batters' ability to adjust with weeks' worth of hindsight behind them. If Vega can hold them off enough for the Knights' offense to build up enough of a cushion, or one of the freshman pitchers makes adjustments from learning over their first collegiate season, then UCF could have a chance at a title. However, if Vega does find herself in trouble or one of the freshmen gets off to a bad start in the circle, then this Oklahoma City trip is going to be a short one.

4. Are There Any NCAA Tournament Implications?

The Knights sit at No. 21 in the RPI standings going into the Big 12 Tournament and are ranked No. 21 in the nation by D1Softball. Their sixth-straight bid to the NCAA Tournament is secured.

However, barring a semifinal win over Texas Tech (No. 12 RPI) and then winning the title over either Oklahoma State (No. 14 RPI) or perhaps Arizona (No. 19 RPI), the Knights are likely not going to make it into the Top 16 to earn the privilege of hosting a regional as they did in 2022.

5. Our Prediction

The Knights are not going to make it to the Big 12 Championship game. Their series victory in the regular season against the Jayhawks shows they have what it takes to make it to the semifinals. However, whether it's due to Vega's arm getting overworked or one of the freshman pitchers having a rough start in the circle, UCF is not going to make it further than that.

The Big 12 is the second-strongest conference in the country, according to RPI rankings, only coming behind the SEC. The Knights have already proven all that they have needed to show they belong among the country's top teams. They are going to try to go as far as they can while trying to stay healthy for their NCAA Regional, which is likely going to see them play in either Tallahassee or Gainesville.