LONGWOOD, Fl. — Opening its weekend at THE Spring Games with a victory, No. 11 Florida State (13-6) posted a 6-0 shutout of Longwood (5-10) on Friday night at Boombah-Soldiers Creek Park in Longwood, Fla.
Kathryn Sandercock allowed just one hit over 6.0 innings as the sophomore improved to 7-1 with the win. She allowed a total of three runners in the game on a walk and a hit-by-pitch and also recorded a strikeout.
“Nice way to start the weekend,” said FSU head coach Lonni Alameda. “Kat was commanding in the circle tonight and our lineup continually put pressure on them throughout the game. Quick turnaround with a pair of games tomorrow morning, and excited for the opportunity.”
Sydney Sherrill opened the top of the first inning by lining the first pitch off the wall in left for a double. It was her fourth double of the season and 51st of her career, moving her into a tie with Jessie Warren (2015-18) and Alex Powers (2014-17) for the FSU career record.
Kiersten Landers opened the FSU third inning with a walk and Sherrill followed with an infield single. Josie Muffley put the Seminoles on the board with a single through the left side to make it 1-0 FSU. A walk by Cassidy Davis and a double steal put Seminole runners on second and third with two outs, by a fly out ended the inning.
Sandercock retired each of the first seven batters she faced, before issuing a one-out walk in the bottom of the third inning. That baserunner was quickly sent back to the dugout as a groundball up the middle was fielded by Morgan Noah and the sophomore stepped on second and fired to first for the inning-ending double play.
The Seminoles broke the game open in the top of the fourth, scoring four runs to extend their lead to 5-0. Kaia LoPreste opened the scoring in the inning by hitting a solo home run to left field, her first career HR, to make it 2-0 Noles. Noah reached on a Longwood error, stole second and moved up to third base on a passed ball. After another walk by Landers and a stolen base by the freshman, Sherrill drove in both runners with a single up the middle. Dani Morgan continued the inning with a single to left field, and Muffley closed out the scoring in the frame with a sacrifice fly to center.
Florida State added another run in the top of the sixth inning, as Noah led off with a walk and Landers followed with a bunt single. Kaley Mudge drove in a run with an RBI single up the middle.
Sandercock did not allow a hit through the first 5.1 innings of the game before a one-out double in the bottom of the sixth by Leah Powell. The Noles turned their second double play of the game as Mudge caught a line out in center and threw to Sherrill to retire the runner trying to tag and head to third to end the inning.
Brianna Enter pitched the final inning for the Noles and retired all three batters she faced to close out the game.
The Seminoles will continue with THE Spring Games on Saturday with contests against Creighton and Charleston Southern at 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., respectively. Both games will be streamed by FloSoftball and links for the broadcast and live stats will be available on the softball schedule page on Seminoles.com.
