Over the last half-decade, Florida State has been the class of the ACC when it comes to softball. With an 11-0 win over Louisville in the first game of a doubleheader on Sunday, the Seminoles clinched a fifth straight regular season crown.
The fact that this season has been a special one so far for FSU has come as little surprise. Last year, FSU reached the semifinal round of the Women’s College World Series before falling to Auburn in extra innings on a controversial play at the plate. This season, the Seminoles are 44-3-1 and previously attained their first No. 1 national ranking in school-history.
In recent weeks however, the grind of the long season has made Florida State work. The Seminoles lost a pair of games earlier this month to rival Florida and South Carolina, but even against seemingly overmatched opponents, things have not come easy.
After winning each of the first 17 ACC games by at least three runs and an average of more than eight runs per game, three of the last four have been decided by a single run.
On April 9 against Syracuse, FSU trailed 5-4 heading to the sixth inning before a 2-run home run by shortstop Cal Harrod put the Seminoles ahead for good in a 6-5 win. Over the last two games, it’s been an unlikely hero that has delivered the Seminoles.
After drubbing Louisville 11-0 to kick off the doubleheader on Sunday, FSU trailed 2-0 and was down to its final three outs in the second game before No. 9 hitter Zoe Casas forced extra innings with a 2-run single. After trading runs in the ninth, a double by Sydney Broderick in the 10th lifted the Seminoles to a 4-3 victory. On Monday, it was an RBI single from Casas in the seventh that propelled FSU to a 5-4 victory over the Cardinals.
With 26 ACC wins in a row dating back to last season, Florida State is on the cusps of school-history. The FSU record for consecutive ACC wins was set by the football team with 29 upon entering the conference from 1992-95. The Seminoles can equal that feat with a 3-game home sweep of North Carolina in a series that begins on Friday.
The recent resistance felt by Florida State hasn’t been par for the course this season, but the encouraging thing is that it continues to win.
“I love our fight,” head coach Lonni Alameda said Monday in a release. “I love that throughout the lineup we have people come through in big situations.”
With the start of the ACC and NCAA Tournament less than a month away, Alameda’s hope is that being battle-tested will help the Seminoles get back to and perhaps win the Women’s College World Series. She expressed that Monday.
“Coming from behind and scoring late will be a huge character mark for us moving forward, moments where you can look at each other and know that we can battle to the very last out.”
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson
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