Seminoles find offense in sweep of Pitt
PITTSBURGH – After dropping two consecutive games, the Florida State softball team has found its offense.
The Seminoles were dominant as they completed the series sweep with a 17-7 win over Pitt on Sunday in five innings.
The loss dropped Pitt to 8-21 overall and remains winless (0-9) in ACC play. FSU improved to 21-9 and 4-2 in the league.
FSU will return to JoAnne Graff Field to face N.C. State in a weekend series, starting Thursday and concluding Saturday. N.C. State is coming to town with an 18-12 record, although it’s1-8 against conference opponents.
During the series against Pitt, the FSU offense produced 40 runs on 39 hits for the weekend. The hits included 15 home runs with seven in the series finale to tie a program record. It marked the first time in school history that FSU scored 10 or more runs in each game of a three-game series against an ACC opponent. It was also just the fourth time in school history that FSU had three or more consecutive games with 10 or more runs.
Kaey Mudge got things started and continued her weekend hitting streak with a leadoff home run to left center to give the Noles an early 1-0 lead. It was Mudge’s first home run of the season.
Pitcher Allison Royalty surrendered a walk in the bottom of the first inning, but was able to get out of the inning without any further damage.
The Seminoles got the bats going again in the bottom of the second inning as Amaya Ross drew a leadoff walk, and Hallie Wacaser hit her sixth home run of the season. Isa Torres immediately followed Wacaser with a home run of her own to give the Noles a 4-0 lead. Mudge stepped in with two outs and delivered another solo home run for her first career multi-home run of her career.
Pitt responded with a two-run home run in the bottom of the second, but the Noles got right back to work in the top of the third. Michaela Edenfield was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. The Noles got two runners in scoring position thanks to a double from Ross. Jahni Kerr got a RBI on a groundout, and Wacaser delivered with a double to give the Noles a 7-2 lead. FSU added one more run in the inning as Wacaser scored on an error by the Panthers.
Pitt responded again in the bottom of the third as it smacked two home runs to cut the deficit to two.
FSU continued their offensive explosion as a single by Wacaser drove two runs in the top of the fourth.
Makenna Reid was able to keep the Panthers off the board in the bottom of the fourth, and the offense had their biggest inning of the weekend in the top of the fifth. After Harding drove home Flaherty on a sacrifice fly, Ross and Kerr hit back-to-back home runs to put the game away. Katie Dack joined the home run party with her first home run of the season to put the Noles up 17-7.
