Knights end season on high note

Chris Duffy ended his UCF career by blasting a grand slam into the late afternoon sky over New Orleans. And along the way, he helped the Knights (33-22, 10-14) to one of their most lopsided victories of the year.

The Knights trounced Tulane 17-6 in their final game of the regular season, ending on a high note after a year that had seen the Knights struggle against Conference USA opponents but still manage to post their best record yet.

A series victory over any C-USA team was hard to come by for the Knights this year. Taking two games of three from Tulane, the Knights pulled off only their second conference series win out of eight all season.

Duffy's bat helped a great deal in that cause, lending two UCF all-time records during his final season in a Knights' uniform. Duffy now holds the records for single-season home runs with 21, and career home runs with 43.

With the win, the Knights knocked Tulane out of playoff contention.

For the Knights, a tie for worst conference record didn't help their chances for a postseason run. Despite finishing the season with the second best overall record in the conference, the Knights will not be appearing in the conference tournament. Had they won two more conference games, they would have snagged a tie for third place in the C-USA.

Softball

Ashleigh Cole now owns the second best all-time record in nine pitching categories for UCF after finishing off her career at the NCAA regional championship in Gainesville Saturday night.

Unfortunately for the Knights (36-23, 16-7), their star pitcher's final outing came as Florida International University unloaded on them in a 7-0 rout to avenge an earlier loss in Gainesville and to end UCF's season.