TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Fresh off Meghan King’s no-hitter on March 17 against Notre Dame, freshman Makinzy Herzog and sophomore Kara Bilodeau combined to toss a no-hitter of their own on Tuesday as No. 3 Florida State (28-3) blanked Florida A&M (8-21) by a score of 8-0 at JoAnne Graf Field. It is the second time that Herzog and Bilodeau have combined for a no-hitter this season, as the duo held UNCW without a hit on February 10.
It marks the 27th no-hitter by Florida State under head coach Lonni Alameda and the first time the Noles have recorded consecutive no-hitters since Sarah Hamilton shut down Hofstra and Kent State on February 27 and 28, 2010.
Herzog (4-1) started the game in the circle and two of the first three FAMU batters reached on a pair of FSU errors. But the freshman settled in and retired the next 13 of the next 14 batters she faced and finished with six strikeouts and one walk over 5.0 innings pitched. Bilodeau retired all three batters she faced in the sixth inning and added a strikeout.
“No-hitters are a complete team effort, so even though the pitchers may get the recognition for it, it wouldn’t be possible without the defense behind them,” said Alameda. “Great job by our offense coming out and setting the tone early as scoring first is one of our goals. I think the team looked pretty sharp and into it today and now we’re looking forward to UNF tomorrow.”
For the 22nd time through the 31 games of the 2019 season, the Seminoles got on the board in the first inning and took a quick 2-0 lead. Cali Harrod and Carsyn Gordon opened the game with singles and each added a stolen base in the inning before Sydney Sherrill hit an RBI groundout and Elizabeth Mason added a sacrifice fly.
The Noles have scored a total of 71 runs in the first inning this season and have allowed their opponents to score just 69 runs total.
The Seminoles added four more runs in the second inning, highlighted by a three-run home run by Cassidy Davis. Zoe Casas and Herzog led off the frame with a pair of singles as Herzog extended her hitting streak to 14 games. Savannah Parker drove in a run on an RBI single and Davis cleared them all with her fifth home run of the season to center to make it a 6-0 game.
Leslie Farris hit a one-out double in the bottom of the fourth and scored on a single to right center by Morgan Noah to push the lead to 7-0.
Farris added another extra-base hit in the bottom of the sixth to end the game at 8-0. Parker led off the inning with an infield single and scored as Farris hit her third triple of the season to right center.
The Seminoles will play North Florida (17-8) on Wednesday, March 20 at 6:00 p.m. 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.
