UCF freshman pitcher Mackenzie Audas was selected as the Conference USA Softball Pitcher of the Week on Monday, the league office announced. Audas picked up two wins while recording a 0.65 ERA in four appearances against No. 3 Florida and UAB last week.
The Knights’ ace became just the second pitcher in school history to earn Pitcher of the Week honors three times in one season and the first to do it back-to-back weeks. She struck out 33 batters in 21.2 innings and allowed just seven hits for the week.
Audas opened her week with a dazzling two-hit, 11 strikeout performance against Florida. The Gators came into the game ranked in the top 20 in the nation in batting average, slugging percentage and runs per game, but only managed two singles against Audas.
On Saturday, Audas made a relief appearance and a start at UAB. In game one, Audas stepped in relief with the bases loaded and one out and got a pop up and strikeout to end the Blazers’ threat. Later that day in game two, she pitched a complete game and took a loss despite allowing just four hits and striking out 11.
Audas followed up that performance the next day with another stellar outing as she picked up her seventh conference shutout of the season. The young hurler took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and finished up with eight innings and just one hit allowed while striking out 10 as the Knights won by 1-0.
Audas has been arguably the most dominant pitcher in C-USA this season as she has a 17-6 record and leads the conference with a 1.06 ERA. She has only allowed 96 hits in 165.2 innings and has recorded a league-high 202 strikeouts while holding opponents hitters to a conference-low .166 batting average.
This is the fourth C-USA Softball Pitcher of the Week award for the Knights this season. Senior Ali Schmidt won the award on Feb. 27 and Audas took home the award on March 19 and April 9.
Audas and the Knights will return to action Wednesday when UCF hosts Bethune-Cookman at 5:30 p.m. at the UCF Softball Complex.