When we talk about great hitters in Florida State history, Buster Posey and J.D. Drew are usually the first names to come up, but what if one of the best hitters to ever swing it as a Seminole was next door at JoAnne Graf Field?
Senior Jessie Warren is rewriting history at the plate, and that trend continued on Wednesday against the University of South Alabama when she broke both a school and conference record as FSU softball split a doubleheader with the Jaguars.
The power-hitting Tampa native broke the Florida State home run record last year against North Carolina with her 56th career homer. On Wednesday night, she took down another home run record — this time the Atlantic Coast Conference record — with her 67th career long ball which just happened to be a grand slam in the second inning. That grand slam came just one inning after tying the ACC record with a solo shot to right.
Warren, the reigning ACC Player of the Year, now has five home runs in 12 games in 2018 after hitting 23 during her junior campaign. She is just 29 home runs away from setting the all-time-record which is 96 in one’s career.
When you hit as many home runs as Warren does, RBIs seem to come with it, like the most in FSU history. Warren was tied for that record with 216 coming into Wednesday night, but bested it with a seventh inning RBI infield single in the first game of the doubleheader.
For opponents, it may seem as though there is really no point in pitching to Warren; it is a lousy proposition at this point. In each of her previous three seasons in Tallahassee, she has hit at least 19 home runs and driven in at least 57 runs each year.
As for the team, FSU was won the ACC — both regular season and tournament — title each season of Warren’s career. The Seminoles have also advanced to the Super Regional round of the NCAA Tournament each year of Warren’s career, including the Women’s College World Series in 2016.
After a rough stretch that saw the Seminoles drop three of four games, FSU got back on track in the nightcap of Wednesday’s doubleheader with a 14-1 victory to improve to 9-3 on the year. The Seminoles now head to Tuscaloosa to take part in the Easton Bama Bash, where they’ll look to stay on track and where Warren will look to continue her assault on the college softball record books.
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