The Daily Nole

FSU Softball Cruises Past Notre Dame to Reach ACC Title Game

Ryals Lee/FSU athletics

For a sixth straight season, Florida State will play for the ACC Softball Championship.

The No. 1 seed Seminoles (46-10) earned that opportunity in Atlanta on Friday with a 6-1 win over fifth-seeded Notre Dame in the ACC Tournament semifinals. FSU has now won 14 straight games at the ACC Tournament.

For the second day in a row, FSU fell behind early. Notre Dame (32-21) managed to take a 1-0 lead on solo home run from Sara White in the top of the third. The Seminoles were able to take control of the contest in the bottom of the inning with three runs.

After a Zoe Casas triple scored Sydney Sherrill to tie the contest, the Seminoles went ahead on an RBI single from Dani Morgan, last season’s ACC Tournament MVP. Morgan came around to score on an RBI single from Anna Shelnutt.

Morgan scored again on a Notre Dame error in the fifth to make it 4-1, but the Fighting Irish threatened in the top of the sixth. With two runners on and two out, the Seminoles went to the bullpen and Thursday starter Kylee Hanson. After struggling against Louisville on Thursday, Hanson struck out Notre Dame clean-up hitter Cait Brooks to end the frame.

FSU added insurance runs in the bottom of the frame with RBI singles from Carsyn Gordon and Sherrill. Sherrill, Morgan and outfielder Morgan Klaevemann all had two hits for FSU in the win. Ali Wester had two of the three hits for the Fighting Irish.

For the second straight day, Meghan King picked up the win for FSU, yielding just three hits and one run in 5 2/3 innings. Hanson worked 1 1/3 scoreless innings to pick up the save. Notre Dame’s Alexis Holloway took the loss, but thanks to three errors, two of the six runs she yielded were unearned.

The Seminoles will move on to the conference title game on Saturday. They’ll face either No. 2 seed Pittsburgh or third-seeded North Carolina. The contest airs at noon EST on ESPN.

Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson

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