Shelby Turnier has been tied to UCF pitching great Mackenzie Audas throughout her career. The two teammates dominated the circle and helped make the Knights a formidable team just to get hits against. That is typically the basis for many strong softball outfits.
Sunday, Turnier tied the UCF record for career wins with 78 as UCF completed a dominant win over East Carolina. Turnier said she wanted to be forever tied with her former teammate Audas. But, of course, that would mean the Knights would not win another game.
Inevitably, Turnier would have to take her place as the all-time wins leader for UCF, and perhaps the greatest pitcher in program history. And that inevitably came one game later to help UCF advance to the semifinals of the American Conference Tournament.
Turnier pitched a complete game, giving up just three hits and striking out 13 batters to earn her 79th career win, setting a UCF record, and, more importantly, advancing the Knights with a 3-2 victory over the UConn Huskies at the Collins Family Softball Complex in Tulsa, Okla.
“Shelby did a fantastic job today on the mound,” head coach Renee Luers-Gillispie told UCFKnights.com. “I think it was defense the kept us in the game. Definitely offensively, we’ve got to come out stronger in the next game.”
The Knights jumped on the Huskies with three runs in the first inning. They loaded the bases and scored two runs on consecutive at bats with a hit by a pitch. Jasmine Acevedo scored the third run with a single to short before the Huskies got out of the inning.
The Knights bats went quiet for much of the rest of the game. UCF managed only four hits for the entire game.
Often the Knights have had to over rely on their pitching to bail them out when the bats go silent. Turnier is typically ready and able to do that in most situations.
That is still tremendous pressure. That pressure was felt in the seventh inning when UConn pulled within one run on a two-run home run.
Turnier though closed the door with a strikeout for the final out and to preserve the victory.
The Knights will play the host Tulsa Golden Hurricane on Friday at 4:30 p.m. The game will air on the American Digital Network.
