South Carolina squeaked by BYU and was not so lucky against Baylor who upset the top 10 ranked team. In return, BYU toppled Baylor in their second game beating the Bears 4-3.

Liberty put on a hitting clinic on day one with 17 hits scoring 13 runs beating BYU. Notre Dame took down the Flames in game two with Morgan Ryan picking up her first win of the season.

North Carolina earned their first victory of the season over BYU, while Notre Dame beats Washington in extras.

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico — The Southern Illinois University softball team knocked off the No. 25 Mississippi State Bulldogs, 4-1, in its opener at the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge Thursday. 

REPLAY | Southern Illinois vs Mississippi State

Brianna Jones was masterful in the circle to come away with the complete game win. Jones allowed just one run on five hits- all singles - and stymied a Bulldog offense that came in averaging nearly six runs and almost eight hits a game. The win marked the 70th of her illustrious career and moved her into sole possession of third on SIU's all-time wins list.

Southern's defense behind Jones was exceptional, with several highlight-worthy plays. Maddy Vermejan and Ashley Wood combined to turn a 4-6-3 double play in the top of the second and Sidney Sikes followed with a diving catch in foul territory to record the first out of the third. Susie Baranski ran down a ball that looked destined for the gap in right-center and gloved it despite the sun being in her eyes in the sixth. Then in the seventh inning, Sikes gloved a ball that was smoked right at her for the second out of the frame and Jones struck out Mia Davidson, last year's NFCA Freshman of the Year, for a second time to seal the win

"I thought Bri threw extremely well," head coach Kerri Blaylock said. "The strikeout of Mia Davidson to start the game set the tone. I also thought we came up with a couple of exceptional defensive plays. We turned a double play with Maddy and Woody, Sidney Sikes played great and Susie Baranski had a great catch on a ball that was lost in the sun."

At the plate, the Salukis were led by Katelyn Massa and Ashley Wood, who both tallied multiple hits in the win. Massa went 2-for-3 with a home run, two RBI and a run scored while Wood also went 2-for-3 with an RBI-double and a run scored.

The Salukis broke the game open in the sixth. In the top half of the inning, Jones plunked the second batter. After she got MSU's next hitter to fly out to right, Jones walked Sarai Niu to give the Bulldogs two runners on with two outs. Southern made the strategic decision to pitch around Davidson, who wasn't given any pitches to hit and took her free base. The gamble paid big dividends, as Jones got the next batter to line out to right field and keep the game tied at 1-all. "Some people would think that it's kinda crazy to go to bases loaded but we intentionally were not going to let certain players beat us," Blaylock said. "There's a reason that Jen calls pitches for Brianna- Jen is so smart with her and she has more guts than I do in certain situations and Brianna responds to it. Just a really good job of calling pitches."

Katelyn Massa crushed her first home run of the season- a solo shot to the deepest part of the ballpark, to stake SIU to a 2-1 lead. It was the first home run given up this season by the Bulldog pitchers, who came into the contest with the 17th-best ERA nationally. 

The onslaught continued from there. Kyleigh Decker followed with a double down the right-field line and Decker and Wood switched spots after Southern's freshman shortstop sprayed a double down the left field line to score Decker. After SIU chased Mississippi State's starting pitcher Alyssa Loza following a walk to Sidney Sikes, Southern drew back-to-back walks to plate Wood and provide Jones with yet another insurance run.

The Salukis scored the game's first run in the bottom of the first inning. Maddy Vermejan led off the frame with a walk and advanced to third on consecutive productive at-bats that resulted in outs. Massa came through for Southern, as she roped a single to right to plate SIU's first run.

Southern got itself out of a jam in the top half of the second. After back-to-back singles gave Mississippi State two-on with no outs, Jones induced a 4-6-3 double play thanks to a great turn by Wood on a backhand flip from Vermejan. Jones got the next batter to pop out to Wood and SIU got out of the inning unscathed.

The Bulldogs tied the game at one-all in the top of the third as they used two hits and a stolen base to tie the contest.

Southern had a chance to break the game open in the bottom half of the third after Maris Boelens led off the inning with a walk. Vermejan laid down a near perfect bunt that ate up Loza, and Susie Baranski laid down another bunt that caused fits for MSU's third basemen resulting in SIU having the bases loaded with no outs. Loza pitched out of the jam though, as she got three-straight pop-ups to keep the score tied. 

"When we had the bases loaded and got nothing- what a great show of resiliency by our kids to come back and keep battling," Blaylock said. "We just kept our heads down and kept battling."

Both squads hung zeros in the fourth and fifth before Southern plated three in the bottom half of the sixth to take the lead for good. 

The win marked SIU's first over a ranked opponent since 2013 and gives head coach Kerri Blaylock her 19th career win over a Top-25 foe. It was also SIU's first win over an SEC opponent since 2011.

"What we talked about is that we need to play consistently this way, that this is not a one-time thing," Blaylock said. "We need to keep playing consistent no matter if we are playing the 25th-ranked team in the country or whoever we are playing."

In a back-and-forth contest that went down to the wire, No. 25 Mississippi State softball used a three-run sixth inning to take down Sacramento State on Friday at Nancy Almaraz Field.

REPLAY | Sacramento State vs Mississippi State

With the game locked at 5-5 in the bottom of the sixth inning, redshirt sophomore Montana Davidson plated the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly before junior Fa Leilua added a two-run home run to give Mississippi State some breathing room.

Leilua closed the game going 2-for-3 with two home runs and a career-high five RBI. It was the second game this season that Leilu has recorded multiple home runs. Redshirt freshman Kinsey Goelz tallied two hits in the contest, both doubles, for the first base hits of her collegiate career.  

MSU struck first in the bottom after getting two runners into scoring position after a Hornet error, senior Bevia Robinson grounded out to second to score Goelz to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.

Sacramento State rallied in the top of the third using a walk, hit by pitch and a sacrifice bunt to put two runners in scoring position. Sophomore Emily Williams fired back with a strikeout, but the Hornets struck together a two-out rally with four singles to take a 4-1 lead.

The Bulldogs answered in the bottom of the third getting sophomore Mia Davidson on via an infield single before senior Sarai Niu drew a walk to bring Leilua to the plate. The junior slugged her first homer of the game with a no doubter to left field to lock the game up at 4-4 with one swing.

The game would stay tied until the bottom of the fifth when Goelz, who doubled, scored on a single from Robinson to give MSU the one-run lead. Once again, Sacramento State responded in the top of the sixth with a solo home run from XXX Rasmussen to lock the game back up at 5-5.

It was MSU's sixth inning that put the game away for the Bulldogs. After a walk to Mia Davidson and a fielding error by the Hornets, Montana Davidson drove home the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly to center field. Leilua would slug a two-run home run to push the lead to a decisive 8-5.

In another stellar relief appearance, freshman Grace Fagan (2-1) tossed 4.1 innings in the circle, allowing just one run off two hits and walk, while striking out four to pick up the victory.

The UCF softball team went 1-1 Saturday after grabbing a win over Northern Colorado, 7-0, but fell to No. 25 Mississippi State, 11-3.

Jazmine Esparza paced the Knights in RBI with four, while Alicia Tomberlin added three.

Breanna Vasquez started the first game picking up the win and her second shutout of the season. Vasquez allowed only three hits and registered 10 strikeouts.

Alea White recorded the loss in the second game against the Bulldogs and move to 1-3 on the season.

Overall, the Knights are 3-4 with one game left in the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge.

Things You Need To Know:

• Cassady Brewer went 3-for-5 on the day getting her first hits of the season. Two of those hits weren’t back-to-back doubles.
• After receiving her second start of the season, Tomberlin came in clutch with a pair of hits against Northern Colorado.
• Esparza also collected three hits and two doubles to improve her batting average to .318.
• Tamesha Glover’s bat continue to stay hot adding a hit as she is batting .389.
• Vasquez had a no-hitter going until the sixth inning against Northern Colorado. She moves to 2-1 on the season.
• The Knights tallied six doubles between the two games and 10 hits overall.
• The win over the Bears is the second game this season with a 7-0 finish. Vasquez tossed both games.
• Savannah Julylia received her first start as a Knight in left field against Mississippi State.

PUERTO VALLARTA (UCFKnights.com) – In a thrilling come-from-behind victory, the UCF softball team wrapped up the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge with a win over Sacramento State, 6-5 on Sunday.

The Knights were led by senior Erin Emanuel and junior Tamesha Glover offensively each picking up two hits. Emanuel started the rally in the sixth inning to propel the Knights to get two runs to take the lead.

Jazmine Esparza grabbed her sixth RBI of the weekend and added another hit in the fifth inning, while Kyra Klarkowski came in clutch early in the game to aid in the comeback.

Alea White received the start in the circle throwing a complete game allowing six hits and just one earned run and striking out four.

UCF finished the weekend 2-2 and improve to 4-4 overall as they head back to Orlando.

Things You Need To Know:

• Esparza and Breanna Vasquez were named to the All-Tournament Team.
• Esparza finished the weekend with a .333 average, six RBI, and two doubles for seven total bases.
• Vasquez threw a complete game shutout over Northern Colorado giving up just three hits and striking out 10. Vasquez didn’t allow a hit until late in the sixth frame.
• Cassady Brewer wrapped up the weekend 4-for-7 with a pair of doubles and two walks with a .857 slugging percentage.
• Glover will leave Mexico with six hits, three runs scored and an RBI.
• As a team, the Knights hit .315 in four games with 33 hits, eight doubles, and 17 runs scored.
• Weekend stats

Scoring:
SAC: 1-0 | 1^st | With the bases loaded, Speith was hit by a pitch.
UCF: 1-1 | 1^st | Kaitlyn Jensen was on first and Glover on third, Jensen stole second and the throw was off target allowing Glover to score.
SAC: 5-1 | 2^nd | After an RBI single up the middle, the Hornets had runners on second and third and a homer from Brookshire extended their lead.
UCF: 5-3 | 2^nd | Aubrey Johnson led off with a single the stole second. Emanuel brought Johnson in off a single through the right side. After stealing second, Emanuel scored off a Klarkowski single to left.
UCF: 5-4 | 5^th | The Knights added another run after Esparza brought in Alicia Tomberlin who tripled to center field.
UCF: 6-5 | 6^th | The UCF rally continued as they strung together three hits with Emanuel, Klarkowski, and Takiya London. London doubled and brought in Emanuel to tie the game. With Klarkowski on third, the Hornets pitcher delivered a wild pitch allowing Klarkowski to cross the plate and the go-ahead run.

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