TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Opportunities presented themselves all afternoon for the Seminoles as they posted eight hits and drew five walks, but batting a combined 1-for-13 with runners on base was too much to overcome as No. 3 Florida State (26-3, 1-1 ACC) dropped its first ACC game of the season by a score of 7-4 on Saturday to RV Notre Dame (16-8, 1-1 ACC). The Irish scored five of their seven runs of the game with two outs.
“Notre Dame is a good ball club and Payton Tidd put together a good day in the circle for them,” said FSU head coach Lonni Alameda. “I loved to see the fight at the end, that was awesome. And it was good to see Makinzy get some innings for us as a freshman, too. Now the rubber match is tomorrow afternoon and it is a challenge that we look forward to.”
Florida State took an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a two-run home run by Sydney Sherrill, scoring Carsyn Gordon after she drew a one-out walk.
FSU starting pitcher Makinzy Herzog retired the first eight batters she faced before a two-out single in the top of the third inning. Notre Dame tied the game in the fourth inning as a leadoff walk was followed by a home run by Cait Brooks, her 11th of the season.
Cassidy Davis entered to pitch for the Seminoles in the top of fifth inning and allowed a leadoff single, before retiring the next two batters on ground outs. After an intentional walk and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases, Notre Dame added a run on a wild pitch and two more on a single up the middle by Abby Sweet to take a 5-2 lead.
Herzog doubled to open the bottom of the fifth inning, but would not advance any further, as ND’s Payton Tidd struck out the side. The double extended Herzog’s hitting streak to 12 games.
The Seminoles loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the sixth inning on a single by Zoe Casas and walks to Davis and Anna Shelnutt. Herzog cut the Irish lead to 5-3 with an RBI ground out, but a fly out to left ended the rally.
Notre Dame added two more runs in the top of the seventh on an RBI double by Sweet and an RBI single by MK Bonamy to make it 7-3.
Elizabeth Mason hit a solo home run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, and Dani Morgan singled to extend the inning, but a fly out to right ended the game.
Davis (1-1) took the loss for the Noles, allowing five runs on five hits with three walks and two strikeouts over 3.0 relief innings. Herzog gave up five hits and two runs in her 4.0-inning start, with one walk and zero strikeouts.
FSU and Notre Dame will wrap the series on Sunday, March 17 with a game at 12:00 p.m. that will be shown on ACC Network Extra. Links for the broadcast, live stats and ticket information are available the softball schedule page of Seminoles.com.
Fans can listen to the FSU softball coaching staff, head coach Lonni Alameda and assistant coaches Travis Wilson and Craig Snider, on their weekly podcast: Coaches and Coffee – The FSU Softball Podcast. Each week, the coaches talk about the current state of the Seminole softball team, chat about NCAA softball from around the country, and have a lot of fun along the way. The podcast can be found on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, or directly at our website – fsusoftballpodcast.wordpress.com.
Throughout 2018-19, the Seminoles will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of women’s intercollegiate athletics at Florida State and there are many events and reunions planned for all women’s sports. Head to www.seminoles.com/50th/ for more information that will be updated throughout the year.
Follow Florida State softball on Twitter (@FSU_Softball) and Instagram (fsusoftball), and like our Facebook page (Facebook.com/FSUsoftball) to keep up to date with everything about Seminole softball.
