The Daily Nole

Your Thoughts Thursday: FSU Softball Will Repeat as National Champs

Perrone Ford/PTFPhoto/FSU athletics

With Florida State softball set to begin the NCAA Tournament on Friday, we asked how far the Seminoles would go in their defense of the 2018 national championship.

FSU defied the odds last season and won six straight elimination games to reach the Women’s College World Series final series against Washington. The Seminoles completed their first title as a fastpitch program by winning the first two games.

There were only 125 responses this week, but the majority of those — 56 percent to be exact — believe that FSU will repeat as national champions. 38 percent had FSU getting to the Women’s College World Series for a second straight year. 5 percent had the Seminoles falling in the Tallahassee Super Regional. Only 1 percent believe that FSU will fail to make it past this weekend.

Our Take
For the first time since we revived this series, we’ll go against the grain. Florida repeated in 2014 and 2015 and Oklahoma did likewise in 2016 and 2017. Unfortunately, I don’t believe that FSU will continue the trend.

FSU is hard to beat at JoAnne Graf Field and the Seminoles should be able to use their home-field advantage to make a third straight Women’s College World Series appearance. Unfortunately, that is where it will end.

Makinzy Herzog and Kathryn Sandercock have both been outstanding as freshmen for FSU this season, but in pressure-packed situations against elite teams, I’m not sure either can be the strong No. 2 that the Seminoles need in the circle behind Meghan King. Their postseason performances will be the single biggest factors in whether or not FSU repeats.

Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson. Like The Daily Nole on Facebook. To pitch an idea, author a post or to learn more about The Daily Nole, email Mike Ferguson at Mike@TheDailyNole.com.

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply