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

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ 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, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ 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 Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Softball Complex. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ fans can follow all of the action on Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ All-Access with live video and audio. Fans can also follow on the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½Athletics.com Gametracker as well as www.twitter.com/Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½_Softball.

“This is great,” Rojas said after the game. “It’s awesome for us to come out here and win our first game. It was a close game but it was a great game. That means a lot to the team, coaches and everyone. It’s a big deal for us to come out here and beat them like we did today.”

The Black and Gold will make its fourth appearance in a C-USA semifinal contest in the last five years, advancing to the championship game in both 2008 and 2010.

Rojas improved her record to 10-13 on the season with her gem in the circle against the Blazers. She allowed only one run on three hits with two walks and a strikeout in her 15th complete-game outing of 2011.

“Diana had a great, great showing out there,” head coach Renee Luers-Gillispie said. “She stayed calm, poised and did very well getting the big outs when she needed them. She worked all year long on trying to get ahead of hitters and trying to work the whole plate and she did exactly that. Her curveball was working great and she took advantage of that when she could. She kept them off balance and threw some key changeups that kept UAB’s tempo off with the bats. I was very proud of the way she performed.”

Offensively, the Black and Gold scattered seven hits off UAB’s pitching duo of Alisha Smith and Leigh Streetman. Tawny Swan (Gilbert, Ariz.) paced the squad with a 2-for-2 performance at the plate, while Allie Jest (Stone Mountain, Ga.), Natalie Land (Mayo, Fla.), Abby McClain (Waterloo, Iowa), Tiffany Lane (Moreno Valley, Calif.) and Patrice Fee (Cocoa, Fla.) accounted for Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s additional five hits.

McClain and Lane each scored a run for the visiting Black and Gold, and Kellie Todd (Ocala, Fla.) posted the only RBI for Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ in the fourth inning.

Every run of the opening-round contest was scored in the fourth inning, with the Knights scoring two in the top of the frame and the Blazers putting up one in the bottom of the inning. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ effectively played the small-ball game to produce runs in that inning, bunting twice to load the bases in the frame and knock Smith out of the contest.

The Black and Gold loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the fourth inning on back-to-back singles from McClain and Lane and a fielder’s choice off the bat of Menendez to open the frame. Todd hit a RBI ground out to second base to bring in Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s first run of the contest, before a catcher’s interference call at the plate once again loaded the bases for the Knights. Fee put the ball in play and a fielding error by UAB’s third baseman allowed Lane to touch home safely and gave Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth frame.

UAB cut the Knights’ lead to one run in the home half of the inning on a leadoff walk and a single down the left field line by Kristen McGrath, but Rojas and the Knights were able to hold the Blazers scoreless for the next three innings to advance to the semifinal round of the C-USA Championship for the fourth time in the last five years.

No. 2 Tulsa will stand in the way of No. 6 Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ making a return trip to the C-USA Championship Game. The Golden Hurricane defeated No. 7 Marshall, 10-0, in five innings earlier in the day to advance to the semifinal contest vs. the Knights. Tulsa enters the contest with a 42-12 overall record and holds an 8-11 advantage in the all-time series vs. the Black and Gold after sweeping the Knights at Donna J. Hardesty Softball Complex during the regular season.

“Tulsa is just a real tough team,” Luers-Gillispie said. “Pitching is the key for them. You can’t make mistakes against a team like Tulsa or they’ll make you pay. We need to keep it within one run and we’ll have a chance tomorrow. I don’t know if they will throw [Aimee] Creger again but my guess is they will stick with her until she wears down. We have to take care of our own business. We have to slow the game down a little bit and play the small game. If we do those things we have a chance and we should be fine.”

The weekly honor was the first for Swan in her career, while it was also the first weekly honor for the Knights in 2011. In all, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ has garnered five Hitter of the Week honors since joining C-USA in 2006.

The senior outfielder opened the series against the Golden Eagles with a 2-for-2 performance at the plate with a sacrifice bunt in game one of the Knights’ doubleheader Saturday, before going 2-for-3 with the game-winning two-RBI triple in the sixth inning in the nightcap.

Swan also had a game-saving outfield assist in the top of the seventh inning in game two, as she gunned out the potential game-tying run at the plate to put two outs on the board.

In Sunday’s contest, Swan posted a pair of hits for the third-straight contest, while adding three RBI, including the game-tying RBI in the second inning, and one run scored.

“This was a perfect way to earn my 600th win,” Luers-Gillispie said. “I feel like we are finally playing together and playing with confidence. Even with our backs against the wall, we found ways to win and our veterans stepped up when we really needed them to.”

The win vs. the Rattlers (9-8) moved Luers-Gillispie’s record to 600-451-3 in her 18th season as a head coach, while also improving her Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ record to 348-247-1 in her 10th season with the Knights.

Todd’s two RBI paced the Knights’ offense, while senior Abby McClain (Waterloo, Iowa) tallied a RBI triple in the fourth inning. Sophomore Marissa Menendez (Tampa, Fla.) also had a hit, scored a run and posted the game-winning RBI in the sixth.

Junior Allie Jest (Stone Mountain, Ga.) extended her hitting streak to 11 games with a single in the third inning. Senior Tawny Swan (Gilbert, Ariz.) recorded a hit and scored a pair of runs in the victory, and junior Natalie Land (Mayo, Fla.) tacked on a hit and one run scored.

In the circle, junior Lacy Dinney (Binbrook, Ont.) picked up her second win of the evening to move her record to 4-3 on the year. The hurler allowed only one run on three hits, while striking out six, in a complete-game outing.

The Black and Gold trailed early in the game after the Rattlers put a run across in the top of the first inning, but Dinney was able to regroup and held the visiting squad scoreless for the remainder of the contest.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ finally got on the board in the fourth inning and tied the game when Swan led off the frame with a double to left field and came around to score on McClain’s RBI triple to left centerfield.

The Knights scored four runs and took their first lead of the contest in the bottom of the sixth inning. A single by Land was sandwiched between a pair of walks allowed to Swan and McClain to load the bases with no outs, before Menendez brought the first run in with a single to centerfield. Two more runs would come around on a two-RBI single to left field by Todd to give the Black and Gold a 5-1 advantage and seal the victory.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ returns to action Tuesday when it hosts both Ball State and North Carolina in a doubleheader at the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Softball Complex. The first contest will begin at 4:30 p.m., while the nightcap is slated to get underway at 7 p.m.