One big step forward and a couple steps back sums up opening weekend for the UCF softball team. At the NTC Elite Invitational, hosted by Olympic gold medalist Dot Richardson at the National Training Center in Clermont, the Knights beat a ranked team before dropping the next two games.

On Saturday, UCF scored a 6-3 upset over Tennessee – ranked No. 16 in the nation – but returned home with a 1-2 mark to start the season after being blanked 12-0 by No. 7 Georgia and falling 4-2 to Chattanooga.

In the come-from-behind win over the ranked Vols, in front of 374 spectators, it was multi-hit games from junior Abby McClain (3-for-4), freshman Marissa Menendez (2-for-4) and sophomore Vanessa Perez (2-for-4) that propelled the black and gold.

Marissa Menendez

Menendez capped of the night by hitting a two-RBI single that proved to be the game-winner in the final inning while senior Hillary Barrow also drove in two and scored a run.

UCF took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the third before giving up three runs to Tennessee and being forced to climb back. Down 3-1, it would be a late-inning rally that was needed to seal the upset. The Knights cut into the lead with a run in the top of the sixth and took the lead for good with four runs in the top of the seventh.

Ashleigh Cole

Senior Ashleigh Cole pitched a complete game while striking out eight batters and allowing just four hits to record the win.

The Knights tallied 10 hits as a team for head coach Renee Luers-Gillispie.

Against Georgia, junior Tiffany Lane connected on UCF’s only hit – the 16^th triple of her career in the first inning – while Barrow went 2-for-3 at the plate and drove in two runs against Chattanooga.

The Knights are home on Wednesday against Stetson at 5:30 p.m. and hosts the UCF Invitational this weekend, Feb. 19-21, with South Carolina, North Florida, Villanova, Troy and Florida A&M scheduled to pay a visit.

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