“I give this award to my teammates, because I would not be in this position without their support,” Sullivan said. “Playing well in conference play was my goal because those games are the important ones. I feel like it was great to be on base all the time and doing what I have to do to help us put runs on the board.”

Sullivan was also named to The American first team along with sophomore pitcher Shelby Turnier, while junior pitcher Mackenzie Audas, sophomore designated player Jessica Ujvari and freshman outfielder Linnea Goodman earned second team honors.

Sullivan’s player of the year honor was the first for the Knights’ program since Stephanie Best won three-straight Atlantic Sun awards from 2003-05. The Waynesboro, Miss., native compiled a .522 avg. during league play with 24 hits, 19 RBI, seven doubles and two homers.

“It just shows that when Farrah [Sullivan] puts her mind to something and is really focused, she is just unstoppable,” head coach Renee Luers-Gillispie said. “She has been improving all season long. The coaches of the conference recognized that and saw what she has given, not only to our program, but the American Athletic Conference. It just says a lot about the type of person and player she is.”

One of UCF’s EVERDAY CHAMPIONS overcame a 2-for-42 stretch early in the season to finish with a .321 avg. with three homers and paced the team in RBI (31) and doubles (13). The Knights three-hole hitter has compiled a .418 on-base and .482 slugging pct.

Head coach Renee Luers-Gillispie along with assistant coaches Ruben Felix and Hillary Barrow used the long season to help the Knights young team progress into the regular season champion.

“Once the team bought into that we have to play as a team and fight for each other, we really saw a difference in the focus of our student-athletes,” Gillispie said. “We went from playing one-run games to posting seven runs on the board. That progress is what I am proud of. Our coaching staff did a great job of putting our players in a position to be successful.”

UCF, who was picked to finish fourth in the league’s preseason poll, has an upper class that contains just four juniors and not a single senior. The Knights registered a 39-15 overall record and 15-3 conference mark, which included series victories over each conference foe they played (Temple series was cancelled due to rain).

This was the first time that Coach Gillispie received an individual postseason accolade since being named the 1992 N4C Conference Coach of the Year guiding Joliet (Ill.) Junior College.

Coach Felix took an offense that was batting .208 following the first 10 games and steadily raised the team’s average during the campaign by mentoring the hitters to a current .275. Coach Barrow, who won the 2008 C-USA Tournament as a player for the Knights, adds another pair of accomplishments with the program with a regular season title and coaching honor.

Joining Sullivan on the first team was Turnier, who paced the league with a 1.16 ERA and tallied 53 strikeouts in 48.1 innings of work. The Palm Beach Gardens native had a 6-2 league mark, while going 18-5 overall, fanning 193 in 144.0 frames and compiled a 1.26 ERA, ranking 13th nationally.

Turnier along with Audas, who was named to the league’s second team, were a big reason for the Knights posting the eighth-best ERA in the nation at 1.59. The pair combined for 380 of the team 434 strikeouts, which is second in the nation behind conference-rival USF.

Audas went 7-1 in league action with 49 strikeouts in 58 frames. The Plant City native picked up series-clinching wins over USF and Louisville. She tallied a 17-10 overall mark with 187 punchouts in 174.0 innings.

One of the Knights most consistent players was Goodman, who compiled a .313 avg. with 51 hits. The Long Beach, Calif., native drove in 14 runs. She increased her batting avg. in conference games to .362 and came around to score nine times.

Solidifying the middle of the UCF lineup was Je. Ujvari. The Pensacola native blasted five home runs on the season including grand slams in the Knights wins over Boston College and Louisville. She recorded a .333 avg. and finished second on the team with 23 RBI.

2014 American Athletic Conference Softball Awards

Player of the Year

Pitcher of the Year

Rookie of the Year

Coaching Staff of the Year

All-Conference First Team

All-Conference Second Team

And minutes after the calm and cool standout pitcher authored a dazzling two-hit, 11-strikeout shutout in UCF’s historic 2-0 defeat of the No. 3 Gators, Audas uttered what might go down as the understatement of the season.

“This is kind of a big deal,” said Audas, who has evolved into arguably the best freshman pitcher in the country.

Freshman , UCF’s hottest hitter the past three weeks, doubled in two runs in the first inning and Audas did the rest as UCF (30-10) beat Florida (34-5) for the first time ever in Orlando. The Knights’ 10th straight victory this season was their third in school history against the Gators and their first since May 18, 2008, in the NCAA Tournament.

A crowd of 747 fans – the second-largest in school history – packed the UCF Softball Complex and was loud from the first pitch. The grounds crew also rolled up two outfield wind screens, allowing a couple hundred more fans to watch the game and add to the electric atmosphere.

“The crowd was amazing. It felt like a football game,” Sullivan said. “Words can’t describe the feeling of this. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

After blanking the third-ranked Gators, the surging Knights have bettered their chances of cracking the top 25 and getting back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010.

“It’s our first home win against Florida, and that’s big,” UCF head coach said. “Mac (Audas) had a great game, catcher Hayley (Barrow) did a great job calling the game, and we made the plays and got the hits that we needed. It was a one-hit difference in the game, but thankfully it was our turn after 10 years of playing them here.”

The unquestioned star of the night was Audas, the 5-foot-5 right-hander from Plant City who dominated a Florida program that never recruited her. Audas (16-5), who entered the game with the lowest ERA in the country for a freshman, tossed her eighth shutout of the season. Her 11-strikeout performance was the sixth time that she had a double-digit strikeout game.

“She’s had some ups and downs and we’ve talked about how it has to be one pitch at a time and she had to focus on each batter as a separate situation and go hard at them,” Luers-Gillispie said. “I told her that she will always have to tools to strike anybody out. She worked hard on focusing on one pitch at a time. And she didn’t have those ups and downs and stayed very steady.”

A true sign of Audas’ razor-sharp focus on Wednesday night was her ability to summon big pitches in key situations. Six Florida batters reached a full count against Audas, but she struck out three of them and none got hits. The two hits in the game were a line drive to center in the third inning and a bunt single in the sixth.

“In the first inning, it’s Florida and they’re ranked, and I was nervous,” Audas admitted. “I faced UCLA and Washington early in the year, but this was Florida. I was pretty nervous early, but I settled down. I knew I couldn’t give a team like this free bases. So I just kept trying to go right at them all night.”

UCF finished with just three hits against Florida’s Hannah Rogers (20-3), but the biggest one of the night came in the first inning in a clutch situation. Sullivan doubled down the left-field line to score two runners and put the Knights up 2-0. Senior shortstop started the rally by beating out an infield hit and stealing second. Then, after walked, Sullivan stroked a fastball down the line that got all the way to the wall.

The clutch double was just the latest big hit for Sullivan, who almost single-handedly destroyed UTEP in a three-game sweep last weekend in West Texas. Sullivan had three home runs, two doubles and nine RBI last Friday in a double-header sweep for the Knights.

Wednesday night’s double will go down as one of the most important hits in school history.

“It was an inside pitch, and I had two strikes on me. I feel like that relaxed me. I just saw the ball and hit it,” said Sullivan, a Waynesboro, Miss., native who leads the team in home runs (five), doubles (nine) and RBI (29). “I knew if we got a head start on them that Mackenzie would take care of them. I knew if we got some runs she would come through and take care of business.”

With the Knights (25-10, 6-3 in Conference USA) clinging to a 4-3 lead, the Pirates (15-20, 3-6) had runners on second and third in the seventh inning with two outs. Pinch hitter Rebecca Lee hit a sharp ground ball deep into the hole at shortstop. Land moved to her right, made a diving, backhanded stop and threw to first to beat Lee by a half-step. The play prevented two Pirates runs from scoring, and Land’s teammates mobbed her in the infield.

UCF will travel to UTEP for a Conference USA doubleheader beginning at 4 p.m. Friday and a single game at 1 pm. on Saturday. The series will feature the Knights’ top ranked conference pitching staff against a Miners’ offense that leads the conference with 44 home runs in 33 games.

The Black and Gold jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning Sunday. With a runner on third base, junior Lauren Aldridge pinch-ran at first after a Farrah Sullivan single. Aldridge then took off for second on the first pitch, and an errant throw into center field allowed the Knights to take a 1-0 lead.

Later in the inning, junior Alena Murgatroyd knocked in Aldridge from third with an RBI single into center. Murgatroyd, wearing a protective mask as she recovers from a broken nose, went 4-for-8 with a walk, a stolen base and three RBI in the series.

Land hit a two-out solo home run to deep left field in the sixth inning to give the Knights a 4-1 advantage. That run would prove to be the difference, as ECU scored twice in the top of the seventh before Land’s stellar defensive play ended the game.

Senior Ali Schmidt started for the second time in the series and earned her second win in as many days. Schmidt worked herself in and out of jams all afternoon as she scattered nine hits and three walks over 6 2/3 innings. She benefited from picking up early outs, as most of the Pirates’ hits came with two outs.

The sweep concluded a busy week for the Knights, who also defeated North Florida 3-0 on Wednesday. Mackenzie Audas, Alex Hartshorn, Blaire Kelley, Farrah Sullivan and 2011 graduate Abby McClain were announced as recipients of the Conference USA Commissioner’s Academic Medal, which honors student-athletes who have posted cumulative GPAs of at least 3.75.

Upcoming home games include a sold-out April 11 contest against in-state rival Florida. Season tickets are now $25 and are available online at UCFAthletics.com and Ticketmaster.com or by calling the UCF Athletics Ticket Office at (407) 823-1000.

UCF’s medal winners represent ten sports programs. The women’s rowing team led the way with six student-athletes, followed closely by the women’s soccer and softball teams with five each.

At least 32 Knights have earned medals during three of the last four years.

“Achieving a GPA of 3.75 or higher is a tremendous accomplishment for our student-athletes, who work hard in their classes while balancing the rigorous demands of their sports,” said Vice President and Director of Athletics Todd Stansbury. “The fact that so many of our student-athletes have earned academic recognitions from Conference USA is a testament to their determination and the support of our dedicated faculty members, coaches and academic advisors.”

C-USA announced its academic honor roll (3.0 GPA or better) Tuesday, and 221 Knights were on the list. That total ranked second among all C-USA schools and first among the league’s public institutions.

UCF’s student-athletes have collectively achieved a GPA of at least 3.0 for each of the last eight semesters.

In October, UCF posted a program-best 83 percent Graduation Success Rate, which tied with the º£½ÇÖ±²¥ of Florida for the top rating among Florida’s public universities.

UCF’s academic medal winners are listed below in alphabetical order by sport:

Football: Jacob Bundy (Business Economics) and  (Social Science Education master’s program)

Men’s Golf: Ìý(µþ³Ü²õ¾±²Ô±ð²õ²õ-±è±ð²Ô»å¾±²Ô²µ)

Women’s Rowing: Jesse Baldwin (Communication Science and Disorders), (Finance), (Elementary Education with a Coaching minor), Kelsey McCreary (Cinema Studies), Beatriz Merino (Pre-Clinical Allied Health with a Spanish minor) and  (Sport and Exercise Science/Psychology)

Men’s Soccer: Augusto Braccialli (Civil Engineering), (Psychology), (Molecular and Microbiology) and Ìý(±Ê²õ²â³¦³ó´Ç±ô´Ç²µ²â)

Women’s Soccer: (Biomedical Sciences), (Public Administration/Nonprofit Management), (Psychology), (Biology) and  (Communication Sciences and Disorders)

Softball: (Early Childhood Education), (Hospitality Management), (Elementary Education), (µþ¾±´Ç±ô´Ç²µ²â)Ìý²¹²Ô»å  (Mathematics Education)

Men’s Tennis: (Finance-pending) and  (Interdisciplinary Studies with a Math minor)

Women’s Tennis:  (Communication Sciences and Disorders)

Track and Field: (Undeclared), (Athletic Training), (Elementary Education) and Ìý(±Ê³ó¾±±ô´Ç²õ´Ç±è³ó²â)

Volleyball: (Marketing) and  (Molecular Biology and Microbology)

Confident after their comeback, the Knights (15-7) easily handled the Hoyas 5-0 in the second game to sweep the two-game series.

UCF has now won 10 straight games heading into conference play, which begins with a home series this weekend against Tulsa. The Knights and Golden Hurricane will play a doubleheader at 1 p.m. Saturday and a single game at noon Sunday.

Down 2-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth, UCF rallied and scored two runs to defeat the Hoyas (8-11) 3-2. Freshman Farrah Sullivan (Waynesboro, Miss.) and senior Vanessa Perez (San Diego, Calif.) opened the inning with back-to-back singles. After an out, senior Tawny Swan (Gilbert, Ariz.) smoked a single through the right side that scored Sullivan from second. When the throw to plate went to the backstop, Perez scored from third.

Earlier in the game, Sullivan hit an RBI double in the fourth to cut the Knights’ deficit to one run. Sullivan was 3-for-6 with two RBI and a run scored in the doubleheader. She raised her season batting average to .294 and now has a team-leading 12 RBI.

Freshman Mackenzie Audas (Plant City, Fla.) struggled early, as she allowed two runs on three hits in the first inning. However, Audas settled in nicely and didn’t allow a hit or run through the next six innings en route to her seventh victory of the season. Audas is now 7-4 with a 1.58 ERA and a Conference USA-best 75 strikeouts in 80 innings.

Freshman Hayley Barrow (Miami, Fla.) made her season debut as a pinch hitter for the Black and Gold after missing the first 20 games with an injury. Barrow is the younger sister of former Knights four-year starter Hillary Barrow.

Senior Ali Schmidt (Cordova, Md.) improved to 5-1 on the season as she pitched her first career shutout. Schmidt struck out five and threw the third one-hitter of the season for the Knights. She now has a team-best 1.31 ERA in 11 appearances on the year.

Freshman Kahley Novak (Clermont, Fla.) went 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored for the Knights. Novak, who began the year as the Knights’ leadoff hitter, has flourished since moving into the two spot in the lineup.

Junior Marissa Menendez (Tampa, Fla.) went 2-for-3 with two RBI. Menendez broke the game open in the fifth inning as she ripped a two-run triple down the right field line that scored Novak from third and junior Danielle Brewer (Apopka, Fla.) all the way from first. Like Sullivan, Menendez was also 3-for-6 during the doubleheader. Menendez leads the Knights with a .348 batting average.

The Knights have 18 home games remaining at the UCF Softball Complex. UCF fans can follow all of the action on UCF All-Access with live video and audio. Fans can also follow on the UCFAthletics.com Gametracker as well as www.twitter.com/UCF_Softball.

 Friday, Game One – UCF 2, Ohio State 1

Freshman Mackenzie Audas (Plant City, Fla.) earned her first-career win in her first collegiate game after only allowing one earned run on six hits in seven innings to help the Knights earn a 2-1 victory over Ohio State (0-1) in their opening game of the Dot Richardson’s National Collegiate Softball Invitational.

The young hurler was dominant from the onset as she struck out the first batter she faced and five of the first eight she retired. Audas tallied nine strikeouts total and didn’t issue a single walk in the complete game performance as she improved to 1-0 on the season.

Senior Allie Jest (Stone Mountain, Ga.) provided the game-winning RBI in the fifth inning when she dropped a one out opposite-field single into left field. This base hit scored fellow senior Tawny Swan (Gilbert, Ariz.) who was on third base after ripping a triple deep into the right-center field gap.

The Buckeyes were able to get the tying run into scoring position in the bottom of the seventh after a single and a stolen base, but Audas saved her best for last and struck out Buckeyes left fielder Megan Coletta to end the game.

Friday, Game Two – UCF 9, Florida A&M 1 (5 innings)

UCF used aggressive base running and timely hitting to defeat Florida A&M 9-1 in five rain-soaked innings in the second game of Friday’s double header at Dot Richardson’s National Collegiate Softball Invitational. The win gave the Knights their first 2-0 start since the 2004 season.

The Knights got five stolen bases from five different players and constantly put the Rattlers’ defense under pressure by taking extra bases at every opportunity. UCF is a perfect 7-7 in stolen base attempts through two games this season.

The black and gold jumped on FAMU early as Brewer roped a double to left field, advanced to third on senior Natalie Land’s (Mayo, Fla.) infield single, and scored on Menendez’s fielder’s choice to first base. Freshman Farrah Sullivan (Waynesboro, Miss.) then knocked in Land from second with an RBI single up the middle for her first hit of the season. Senior Vanessa Perez (San Diego, Calif.) finished the first inning scoring with a sacrifice fly to stake the Knights to a 3-0 first inning lead.

Senior transfer Ali Schmidt (Cordova, Md.), making her first Division I collegiate start, picked up her first career win after pitching five innings and allowing just three hits and one unearned run. Schmidt attacked hitters early and cruised through the first three innings before slightly struggling with wet conditions that made gripping the ball difficult. Schmidt allowed five base runners in the final two innings, but managed to escape without allowing any additional runs.

With rain bearing down on the field and a steady drizzle ready to turn into a downpour, the Knights quickly finished off the mercy rule victory in the fifth inning as Swan blasted a double into the right-centerfield gap to score Perez from second.

Saturday, Game One – UCF 10, Bethune-Cookman 4

UCF slugged out 11 hits and hit three home runs as the bats surged against Bethune-Cookman. Freshman Farrah Sullivan (Waynesboro, Miss.) smashed a three-run home run in the top of the first inning and finished the game 3-4 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored. Sullivan and the rest of the Knights carried the team to a dominant 10-4 victory over Bethune-Cookman (0-3) in their third game of the Dot Richardson’s National Collegiate Softball Invitational.

Sullivan had a tremendous weekend for the Knights as the young slugger hit .417 (5-12) and knocked in a team-leading six runs for the Knights in the four games. Sullivan is also leading the black and gold in slugging percentage as well as total bases. Perhaps most surprising, a recruited first baseman, Sullivan also made several strong defensive plays at third base, leading the Knights with nine infield assists in the weekend slate.

Junior transfer Alex Hartshorn (Tampa, Fla.) made her first start of the season and earned her first Division I victory after allowing three earned runs on four hits in four innings. Hartshorn kept the Wildcats limited on the bases by not allowing a single walk. Senior Ali Schmidt (Cordova, Md.) earned her first career save after pitching three scoreless innings in relief.

Saturday, Game Two – UCF 6, Chattanooga 2

Freshman standout Mackenzie Audas (Plant City, Fla.) was once again dominant in her second career start as the UCF defeated Chattanooga 6-2 in their fourth and final game of Dot Richardson’s National Collegiate Softball Invitational. The win gave the Knights their second best start in school history, topped only by their 5-0 start in 2004.

Audas pitched her second complete game of the weekend and kept the Mocs both off balance and overmatched with her mix of risers and changeups. Audas struck out 10 batters in seven innings and did not allow a walk for the second consecutive game. The righty has an incredible 19-0 strikeout to walk ratio in her two starts for the Knights.

The Black and Gold will play 30 home games at the UCF Softball Complex, with season tickets for the 2012 season costing only $40. The Knights’ first home game is slated for Feb. 24 against Seton Hall. Tickets are available for purchase online at UCFAthletics.com and Ticketmaster.com, or by calling the UCF Athletics Ticket Office at (407) UCF-1000.