UCF softball has had a remarkable ability to shine brightest when the pressure is greatest.

Throughout the season, the Knights repeatedly demonstrated their resilience, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat in critical moments.

But in Sunday’s championship game of the Austin Regional where UCF faced off against formidable No. 6 Texas, the Knights struggled to find their footing and ultimately fell short to the Longhorns 9-0.

“The way we played the game today is not who we are,” UCF coach Cindy Ball-Malone said. “I would have liked to have more fun and see who we are, but one game doesn’t define us. One pitch doesn’t define us.”

Texas (49-10) entered the championship with one of the top offenses in the country, ranked second in batting average at .358, seventh in runs batted in per game at 7, and 22nd in home runs with a total of 73.

The Longhorns put that offensive prowess on display early as second baseman Leighann Goode drove a pitch by UCF starter Isabella Vega over the wall in deep center for a home run, driving in designated hitter Victoria Hunter for a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning.

It was the second homer of the regional for Goode and the seventh overall for UT, which had six in a 16-4 win over Michigan on Saturday.

UCF hitters struggled to get much going against Texas starter Teagan Kavan, who held the Knights to two hits through the first three innings.

In the fourth, however, UCF put together its best chance with runners on the corners with two outs, but Kavan struck out pinch-hitter Kendall Yarnell.

Vega settled down after the second inning, allowing just 3 hits and striking out 3 over the next two innings.

However, Texas added two more runs in the fifth inning when catcher Reese Atwood drove a Vega pitch over the left-field wall for a 2-run homer that doubled the Longhorns’ lead to 4-0. It was Atwood’s 19th homer of the season.

UCF (35-24-1) loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth, but Kavan forced Stormy Kotzelnick to ground out to Goode to end the inning.

Atwood later struck again, launching an 0-2 pitch from Kaitlyn Felton over the left-field wall for a 2-run homer to extend the lead to 6-0. The Longhorns tacked on three more runs in the inning to stretch the advantage to 9-0.

Kavan (23-4) went the distance, giving up six hits in seven innings with a walk and 5 strikeouts.

“Normally, when we’re at our best, we’re more external,” Ball-Malone said of her team’s performance. “At the start of the game, I was like, ‘Whoa, are we nervous? What’s going on? Come on, let’s get external.’ We would have a better outing if we had one more go about it, but we’ve got to learn that we don’t get second chances. It’s a double-elimination, not triple-elimination.”

Texas advances to its sixth straight Super Regional with the Longhorns set to host Clemson.

UCF advanced to the regional finals despite losing to Michigan 4-3 in the opening game on Friday. On Saturday, the Knights defeated Eastern Illinois 10-2, allowing them to face the Wolverines again and getting a 10-8 victory.

“UCF is still young. We’re a very young program, school and institution. Then you go about our team. It just speaks to how much we’ve accomplished,” said Ball-Malone. “We went into the season graduating 11 really good seniors and thinking, ‘What are we going to do?’ They did a thing. So they left us better than they found us and I’m excited to celebrate them and continue to build.”

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