• Final stats

ORLANDO, Fla. – Sunday was a day of individual and team successes. As the UCF Knights completed their series sweep of the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, last season’s American Athletic Conference champions, pitcher Alea White made program history by becoming the first Knight to start three-consecutive games in a series.

The Knights (21-12, 3-0 in AAC) beat Tulsa (19-14, 0-3 in AAC) 2-1 Sunday afternoon at the UCF Softball Complex.

White (16-7) was the lone pitcher for the Knights, allowing six hits and one earned run while recording six strikeouts and not giving up any walks. She had 13 total strikeouts in the series, including one shutout.

“She’s a trooper. You see how strong she is. She’s able to go three games in a row,” UCF head coach Renee Luers-Gillispie said after the game. “She came out, [and] she played a heck of a game.”

Senior Emily Watson (11-6) made her second start for Tulsa in this series, pitching all 6.0 innings and giving up two hits and two earned runs. Watson also struck out nine batters and walked two.

The momentum changed in the sixth inning for UCF. Down 1-0, senior Courtney Rotton hit a two-run home run to put the Knights ahead for the first time. Rotton finished 1-for-3 with two RBIs on the day and was the only Knights batter to record a hit and not strike out.

Left fielder Denali Schappacher started the scoring effort with a one-out walk. After second baseman Aubrey Johnson flew out to right field, Rotton hit her third home run of the season.

“It was exciting. [Tulsa was] defending champions, so, coming out here, we wanted to have the most energy as possible on our home field and just do what we can do to be able to get the win, and we got the sweep,” Rotton said after the game.

The Knights started slowly, as they didn’t record a hit in the first four innings and had two errors on defense. White gave up four of her six hits in those four innings, but the game remained scoreless until Tulsa scored in the sixth.

Junior Morgan Neal scored the Golden Hurricane’s only run of the game. She started the sixth with a base hit to left-center field before fellow junior Haley Meinen fouled out and hit a sacrifice fly to right field.

“Sometimes I feel like we get a little bit rattled, but I think it’s just conference. It’s all in our heads. We’re tightening up, sticking to it, and you see our tight defense, our good pitching,” Schappacher said after the game. “And so I think we’re headstrong right now.”

In the seventh inning with two outs and no one on base, White struck out freshman Marisa Olmos to end the game. Six strikeouts were White’s series-high.

“These girls, they’re working hard; they know we’re in conference; they know our season is just now starting with the conference play, and this is where everything matters, and you’re seeing them step it up,” Luers-Gillispie said.

Who’s Next?

UCF stays at home for a game on Tuesday at 6 p.m. against Bethune-Cookman University.

For more on the Knights, as they prepare for the Wildcats, follow Nick Santiago on Twitter at @NickSantiagoUCF.