Michigan softball gave UCF all it could handle in the Orlando Regional. Unfortunately, the pitching for the Wolverines ran out of steam Sunday afternoon in an elimination loss to the Knights.

On Saturday, Michigan went toe-to-toe with No. 16 seed UCF over 11 innings. In the end, the Knights walked it off as the Wolverines headed to the loser’s bracket.

Michigan started Sunday afternoon with a 4-1 win over South Dakota State to make it into the regional final. It did not take long for that final vs. UCF to get sideways.

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In the top of the 1st inning, the Wolverines faced a bases-loaded jam but nearly got out of it. Then, 3 straight walks – 2 by Meghan Beaubien and 1 by Annabell Widra – gave UCF a 3-0 lead before Michigan came to bat.

UCF would tack on 2 more runs – 1 on a home run and another on a bases-loaded HBP – in the 3rd. Michigan finally answered with 2 runs to make it 5-2.

Michigan’s best other threat to score came in the 5th inning. The Wolverines put the first two batters on and scored one run on an RBI single by Blair. Unfortunately, a strikeout and a pop-out ended the threat after just one run scored.

UCF responded in the 6th, taking advantage of the opening left by the Wolverines to score 3 more runs to effectively put the game away. In the end, the Knights finished off a 9-4 victory to capture the Orlando Regional and advance to their first-ever Super Regional appearance.

The pitching for Michigan appeared to run out of steam Sunday afternoon after 11 innings on Saturday and an early win to start the day Sunday. Four Michigan pitchers combined for 9 walks while only striking out 2 in the loss to UCF.