UPDATE: FSU starting Sandercock, OU starting Storako in WCWS Championship Series Game 2
OKLAHOMA CITY — As expected, the No. 3 Florida State softball team will start senior ace Kathryn Sandercock tonight against the No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners in Game 2 of the WCWS Championship Series.
Sandercock is 28-3 on the season with a 1.05 ERA. Oklahoma is starting senior Alex Storako in the circle; she is 17-0 with a 1.12 ERA.
First pitch is scheduled for 7:38 p.m. on ESPN.
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EARLIER STORY
If there is any drama about starting pitching decisions today, it likely will revolve more around the Oklahoma Sooners than the Florida State Seminoles.
One day after choosing to not use staff ace Kathryn Sandercock as the starter in Game 1, FSU coach Lonni Alameda almost certainly will be calling on the senior in tonight’s second game of the Women’s College World Series Championship Series.
The question is whether Oklahoma will hand the ball to star pitcher Jordy Bahl again, one day after she pitched a complete-game shutout against the Seminoles.
Bahl has pitched in all four of the Sooners’ games in this year’s World Series, and she has been the winning pitcher in all four. She threw a complete game against Stanford in the CWS opener, then 3 2/3 innings against Tennessee, 4.0 against Stanford and all seven against Florida State.
Bahl has yet to give up a run in this WCWS.
“She wants the ball like nobody’s business,” Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso said after the Sooners’ 5-0 win on Wednesday. “Not that we don’t have faith in our others. It’s just she is like a very, very hot pitcher right now. She’s throwing the best she has all season right now.
“You want to take advantage of that without running her too hard where she’s going to run out of gas.”
Bahl is now 22-1 on the season with a 0.92 ERA. And the No. 1-ranked Sooners (60-1) have two other excellent pitchers as well — Nicole May is 18-0 with a 0.91 ERA and Alex Storako is 17-0 with a 1.12 ERA.
Florida State went with No. 2 pitcher Mack Leonard in the opening game of the championship series, following a trend the Seminoles have used throughout the season.
Alameda likely would have gone to Sandercock, who boasts a 28-3 record with a 1.05 ERA, in the middle innings had the Seminoles ever gotten the lead. But since they didn’t, she decided to hold her for an expected start tonight.
“Definitely sticking to the plan we had all year,” FSU’s Alameda said, explaining that she didn’t want Oklahoma’s hitters to face Sandercock two days in a row if the Seminoles weren’t in position to win the opener. “I think they’re a really good team at making adjustments. Needed to see what we had from our other pitchers, too. Once they got the lead, there was no reason to.
“Now we’ve got Game 2. If they go with Jordy, they go Jordy. If they go someone else, we got a different look. At least we got some looks at Jordy.”
In the 2021 WCWS Championship Series, OU did not use star pitcher Giselle Juarez in the opening game against Florida State and suffered an 8-4 defeat. Juarez then pitched back-to-back complete games to win the series for the Sooners.
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Leonard, who started Wednesday’s game, pitched three innings and would likely be available for Florida State again today as well, was quick to defend Alameda’s decision in the opener.
“I believe in Coacha and what she has to do, honestly,” Leonard said. “I think a lot of people will give their opinions about it. I think that’s awesome. Great, you have opinions. I also think we all trust each other, us on Team 40, we know what we’re doing as a squad. Our leader clearly knows what she’s doing, as well. Just trusting in her, going out there and play softball, doing our best.”
Tonight’s Game 2 is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
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