The No. 8 Florida State softball team entered the weekend series against the Virginia Cavaliers as hot as ever, riding at 14-gamewinning streak heading into the series on Friday.
The Seminoles (36-6, 11-1) were coming off an emotional week with head coach Lonni Alameda being diagnosed with breast cancer and a victory on Wednesday over No. 3 Florida.
As hot as FSU was heading into the series against the Cavaliers, they were quickly humbled on Friday night as UVA came out victorious 2-0. The Seminoles' bats had finally cooled off and were only able to muster a meager two hits on the night. The Garnet and Gold were able to bounce back and win on Saturday 9-8, while the Sunday game was a run-ruled 13-2 victory.
“When you get to mid-game Saturday and all of a sudden you know everything about each other,” head coach Lonni Alameda said. “So then it comes down to grit and I hope we can learn something about fight from this weekend. It’s one-pitch softball and the game is not over. You can either get frustrated and check this one out or have more softball to play and be about one pitch. I think that’s when you have those kinds of wins, and you see what they’re capable of doing.”
Unlike the first game, the second game of the series was full of drama and high blood pressure for Florida State fans as Virginia had a commanding 4-0 lead heading into the bottom of the third inning. Entering the inning, the Seminoles had runners on first and second with one out as Virginia made a pitching change to junior left-hander Courtney Layne.
Senior Jahni Kerr stepped to the plate and delivered a perfect bunt to load the bases for senior Michaela Edenfield, who quickly hit a single to score a run — but Virginia was able to get a force out at third base. FSU was not able to get the rest of the runners home that inning as the Seminoles headed into the fourth inning down 4-1.
The Cavaliers tacked on three more runs in the top of the fourth inning to make the score 7-1 as they began to tee off on sophomore Ashtyn Danley, who was replaced by freshman Jazzy Francik.
The Seminoles' bats would not stay quiet for long as they were able to claw their way back into the game with two runs in the fourth and two in the fifth to cut the lead to three. With UVA clinging to an 8-5 lead, the Seminoles scored a run and Edenfield hit a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 8-7 in the bottom of the sixth inning.
After Edenfield’s sacrifice, sophomore Kennedy Harp blasted a shot headed to the left-field wall that bounced off the glove of Virginia left fielder Kailyn Jones for a two-run home run to give Florida State the lead 9-8. The Seminoles would not relinquish their one-run lead as they were able to hang on to complete the comeback.
The two teams headed into Sunday looking to decide on the rubber match, which was over before it began as FSU was able to run-rule Virginia 13-2 in five innings. The Seminoles came out with intention in the bottom of first inning as they built up a quick 3-0 lead. Sophomore Angelee Bueno stepped into the batter’s box with two outs and the bases loaded and hit her first home run as a Seminole, which was also a grand slam. The grand slam hit a Tallahassee Fire Department truck that was parked in left field as Bueno rounded the bases as if the ball was still in play.
“She started me off with a change-up,” Bueno said. ...
