The Florida State Seminoles have advanced to the championship series of the Women’s College World Series after defeating the Tennessee Lady Vols 5-1 on Monday night. The Seminoles’ Kathryn Sandercock and Makenna Reid each pitched well, combining for five innings of scoreless relief to earn the win. Sandercock, a seasoned player, allowed one hit and struck out four in three innings, while Reid, a freshman, gave up one hit in two innings to improve her record to 13-0 this season.
This victory puts Florida State back in a position they are familiar with, having made the championship series three times in the past five finals. This is in contrast to last year when the Seminoles were the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament but lost in regionals. Sandercock’s 10th save of the year and the team’s win now puts them in the best-of-three series for the national title against the No. 1 seed, the Oklahoma Sooners.
Oklahoma won this exact series in 2021, and are now looking to become the first program since UCLA from 1988-1990 to win three straight national championships, having won four of the past six titles. In their game on Monday, Oklahoma defeated No. 9 Stanford 4-2 and are now waiting to face the Seminoles.
Tennessee’s Zaida Puni opened the scoring with a solo shot in the first, but Michaela Edenfield’s solo home run in the second soon had the Seminoles answering back. Bethaney Keen’s first homer of the season pushed Florida State’s lead to 2-1 in the third, and Jahni Kerr’s RBI single in the fifth pushed the lead to 3-1. Florida State’s Hallie Wacaser’s two-run home run off Tennessee’s Ashley Rogers in the sixth, made it 5-1, securing the win.
Florida State has managed to get contributions from various sources and find ways to win, as shown through Keen and Wacaser’s home runs. Florida State coach, Lonni Alameda said, “The ultimate goal when you get here is can you have everything firing on all cylinders. There’s no book written on how to do that. You have to go from your previous experiences, your upperclassmen, what you think they can consistently bring, how you can grow your young ones.”
Meanwhile, Tennessee’s Kiki Milloy, a first-team National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-American, was held hitless in four at-bats after being one of the standout performers in the tournament. Lady Vols left seven runners on base, which could have potentially changed the outcome of the game, according to their coach, Karen Weekly.
The Seminoles and the Sooners will face off in the championship series starting Wednesday, with Florida State hoping to win their second title since 2018.
