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Bombs away! Florida State blasts 3 HRs to drop Tennessee, advance to WCWS finals

On3 imageby: Corey Clark06/06/23Corey_Clark
On3 image

The Florida State softball is back in a familiar place: Playing for a national championship.

The last three trips out to Oklahoma City have now ended with the Seminoles reaching the Women’s College World Series championship series after FSU took care of Tennessee 5-1 on Monday night at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium.

The challenge now is a daunting one as the Seminoles will take on an Oklahoma team that has won an NCAA-record 51 games in a row. One of those wins was a 5-4 victory over FSU back in March.

Now, thanks to three home runs by FSU hitters on Monday and typical terrific pitching and defense, the two teams will battle in a rematch of the 2021 WCWS finals. Oklahoma beat Stanford 4-2 in nine innings earlier in the day in Oklahoma City.

“That’s a really gritty win for us,” Florida State coach Lonni Alameda said. “There’s they’re a really good ballclub. Super proud of our team. We’ve been talking about rugged, dependable and energetic all season. It is showing up at the right time. I’m really proud of us, of all of us. There’s so many people that contributed today. It’s just really exciting to be in the championship series.”

Although the nightcap ended with a celebration in the pitcher’s circle, the game didn’t start out great for Florida State. Tennessee’s second batter of the game, Zaida Puni, hit a home run off FSU starter Mack Leonard in the bottom of the first inning to give the Vols a 1-0 lead.

It was short-lived.

Michaela Edenfield bombed a home run of her own to left-center field to tie the score at 1-1.

“I just wanted to make sure we got some runs in for my pitchers,” an emotional Edenfield said after the game.

Well. They did. From a couple of unlikely sources.

Bethany Keen, who redshirted in 2022 after transferring from South Florida, hit her first home run as a Seminole — and her first in two years overall — in the third inning to give FSU a 2-1 lead.

Then, nursing a 3-1 lead in the sixth, after a Jahni Kerr RBI single the inning before, Hallie Wacaser launched a two-run shot to left that essentially put the game away.

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Wacaser had just three homers on the entire season. Keen had zero.

They both chose remarkable times to provide a power punch for the Seminoles, who have outscored their opponents in the Women’s College World Series, 18-2, in three games so far.

The 18 is impressive. So, of course, is the 2.

That’s because FSU’s pitching has been elite so far through three games. Leonard gave up the one run in two innings. Then freshman Makenna Reid hurled two scoreless innings, even overcoming a bizarre stretch in the third inning in which she was called for four illegal pitches.

Then, with a 3-1 lead going to the bottom of the fifth, FSU turned to its ace. Its star. Kathryn Sandercock.

All the senior All-American did was give up one hit and zero runs in three innings of work, shutting the door on Tennessee and opening it for Florida State to have another chance at the juggernaut Sooners, who are the two-time defending national champions.

“I’m just really, really, really proud of the team today,” Sandercock said. “Like, I just don’t think that words could even express how happy. I’m just so elated to be playing one more day and getting to put the jersey on one more time.”

Said Edenfield: “It’s really cool just to be here and play for a championship.”

The finals start on Wednesday night at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Talk about this story with other die-hard FSU football fans on the Tribal Council.

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