TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — With an RBI double in the first, a three-run home run in the second inning and a single in the third, junior outfielder Dani Morgan was a triple short of the cycle on Wednesday as No. 3 Florida State (29-3) defeated North Florida (17-9) by a score of 9-1 in five innings at JoAnne Graf Field.
The Seminoles tallied four runs in the first inning and have now scored in the opening frame in 23 of their 32 games this season. Overall, FSU has scored 75 first-inning runs, while allowing opponents to score a total of 70 runs throughout all of the 2019 season.
“Good job to get the win, but there were a lot of things we will be able to work on and improve moving forward,” said FSU head coach Lonni Alameda. “The pitching and defense played well and we were better tonight with some two-out opportunities at the plate. Now it is back to conference play as NC State comes in this weekend for an exciting three-game series.”
Elizabeth Mason opened the scoring in the bottom of the first with an RBI single after Carsyn Gordon hit a one-out single, followed by a walk from Sydney Sherrill. Morgan knocked a 1-0 pitch off the wall in right field to make it 2-0 Seminoles and Makinzy Herzogextended the lead to 4-0 FSU with a two-run triple to center, her first of the season. The hit extended Herzog’s team-high hitting streak to 15 games.
The Noles added three more runs in the bottom of the second on a home run by Morgan after Gordon walked and Sherrill was hit by a pitch.
Cali Harrod drew a walk to start the FSU fourth inning and a single to right by Sherrill resulted in runners on second and third with one out. Mason drove in her second run of the game with a sacrifice fly to center and Herzog lined an RBI single up the middle to make it 9-0 FSU.
Kathryn Sandercock allowed one unearned run in the top of the fifth as she improved to 9-0 on the season. The freshman scattered five hits over 5.0 innings with zero walks and four strikeouts.
The Seminoles will continue ACC play this weekend with a home series against NC State (16-11, 0-3 ACC) on March 22-24. All three games will air on ACC Network Extra and links for the broadcast, live stats and ticket information will be available on 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.
