• Final stats

The UCF Knights (6-5) played the first of back-to-back games to open the Green and Gold Classic in Jacksonville, losing to the Western Carolina Catamounts 7-3 on Feb. 23.

Damara Begin started, pitching 4.1 innings with a strikeout, allowing six earned runs on five hits and three walks. In relief, Cierra Word and Kamryn Toney combined for 1.2 innings, as Toney struck out all three of her batters faced.

For the Catamounts, Kinsey Liscio pitched all 7.0 innings, allowing three runs (one earned) on six hits and a walk. Liscio also added three strikeouts.

Trailing 3-0 after the first inning, the Knights didn’t score until the top of the fourth. There, the Knights tied the game, as the Knights scored three runs on two outs.

Hayley Bejarano doubled to left-center field, allowing Aubrey Johnson to score from second. After Denali Schappacher reached base off an error at first base, another error allowed Megan Greenwell to reach base, allowing Schappacher and Bejarano to score.

The Catamounts solidified their victory in the fifth inning. Western Carolina scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth while holding the Knights scoreless for the rest of the game. Begin’s arm began to falter in the fifth, as she hit and walked two of her first three batters. After walking Erica Hayes, Hunter Gibbons hit a tie-breaking, three-run home run for a 6-3 lead.

Begin was, then, replaced by Word, but Word only lasted one out before being replaced by Toney. Word’s first at-bat resulted in a walk of Madison Armstrong, who then advanced to second on a wild pitch and then stole third. Ashlyn Long singled to right-center field to drive in Armstrong for the seventh run.

Toney kept Western Carolina from scoring the rest of the game, as she retired three-consecutive batters by way of strikeout in the sixth.

Who’s Next?

 The Knights play the Penn State Nittany Lions for their second game of the day at 2:30 p.m. It will be just the second of five games in Jacksonville that UCF will play.

For more on the Knights, as they continue their run in the Green and Gold Classic, follow Nick Santiago on Twitter at @NickSantiagoUCF.