Sophomore Alea White pitched her third shutout of the year, and true freshman Kaitlyn Jensen hit two home runs, leading the UCF Knights to a 3-0 win over No. 22 Long Beach State University on March 2 in San Diego, California.
The Knights (10-7), playing as the home team in their second game of the 2018 San Diego Classic I, received another dominant start from White (7-5). She only gave up five hits and two walks across 7.0 innings and struck out two batters, earning her seventh win of the year.
In the top of the second inning, Long Beach State had the bases loaded with just one out, but White came up big by striking out the next batter. The final out was recorded on a groundout to short.
The Knights used the momentum from getting out of that jam to take the lead in the bottom of the second, thanks to Jensen hitting a lead-off home run, her first of the day.
UCF had a chance to put more runs on the board in the second inning, as second baseman Aubrey Johnson doubled, and catcher Cassady Brewer walked, but Long Beach State forced two groundouts, one of which led to a double play, to get out of the inning.
After a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the third, left fielder Kyra Klarkowski led off the bottom half with a single before eventually scoring on a ground ball by third baseman Courtney Rotton. With Klarkowski on second, Rotton hit a grounder to first base that was misplayed, allowing Klarkowski to come around and score the second run for UCF.
In the bottom of the fourth, Jensen hit her second lead-off home run of the day to put UCF up by three, concluding the scoring for the Knights and the game.
Other than a lead-off double from Long Beach State’s LT Torres in the top of the fifth inning, White didn’t face much adversity. After a one-out single from catcher Lauren MacLeod, Torres followed with a double, putting two runners in scoring position for Long Beach State.
White held strong, though, getting a flyout to left and a groundout to first to end the game.
Who’s Next?
The Knights are now 1-1 in the San Diego Classic I with games against the No. 3 UCLA Bruins and Santa Clara University. UCF will return home for a double-header against Virginia Tech University and Ball State University on Tuesday afternoon.
For more on the Knights, as they continue their time in San Diego, follow Kevin Craig on Twitter at @TheKCraig.
