UCF softball headed to Tallahassee NCAA regional

After capturing a second straight American Athletic Conference tournament championship over the weekend, UCF softball is heading to the Tallahassee Regional in the NCAA tournament, it was announced Sunday night.

The Knights will head north later this week to the NCAA regional that’s hosted by the national No. 3 seed Florida State. They’ll be joined by South Carolina and Marist in the regional.

The NCAA tournament appearance is the 10th in program history and the third straight under coach Cindy Ball-Malone.

The Knights (39-19, 15-3 AAC) earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament after winning the program’s third AAC championship Saturday by defeating Tulsa 9-1 in Tampa.

While UCF knew it was guaranteed a spot in the NCAA tournament, the team had to wait to hear where they were headed.

Last year’s squad became the first to not only host an NCAA regional but also advance to the Super Regionals. UCF then ran into No. 1 Oklahoma, who went on to win a second straight national championship.

Although this year’s team didn’t have as strong of a resume as last year’s squad — the Knights went 21-16 in non-conference action in the regular season compared to 28-10 a season ago — UCF found a way to repeat as conference tournament champions and earn their spot in the NCAA tournament.

UCF’s trip to the Tallahassee Regional is the program’s third all-time and second in the last three years. In 2021, the Knights reached the regional final but lost to No. 8 Florida State 2-0. The result was similar in 2015 when UCF fell to No. 9 FSU 5-0 in the regional final.

This year’s team is hoping to buck the trend and advance out of the NCAA regional for the second year in a row.

The regionals start Friday and run through Sunday.

If UCF can escape Tallahassee, the Super Regionals take place May 25-28. The Women’s College World Series, which is in Oklahoma City, is June 1-9.

Email Jason Beede at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @therealBeede.