TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Posting its third consecutive sweep of a conference opponent this season, No. 1 Florida State (28-1-1, 9-0 ACC) remained undefeated in ACC play with a 16-0 win in five innings against Notre Dame (12-13, 1-5 ACC) on Sunday afternoon at JoAnne Graf Field.
Ten different players scored a run and nine different Seminoles drove in an RBI on Sunday as FSU has won its last 11 conference games, dating back to the 2016 season. Overall, the Noles have won 92 of their last 102 ACC games (.902) as Florida State has earned the regular season conference title in each of the last four seasons.
The Noles closed out their nine-game spring break schedule with a 9-0 record, outscoring their opponents – Virginia Tech, Florida Gulf Coast, Canisius and Notre Dame – by a combined score of 87-9. FSU hit .415 as a team with 29 extra-base hits, while the Seminole pitching staff recorded 61 strikeouts and limited opponents to a .195 batting average.
“I thought we had some very intentional at-bats today,” said FSU head coach Lonni Alameda. “We’ve been doing a good job of learning what each of us needs to do individually on making adjustments game-to-game, and it was awesome to be able to do that today.
“I’ve loved the consistency out of our pitching staff, not just today or this weekend, but all year long. They are very present and JB and Meg have been doing a great job and letting Cassidy know what it is all about, and then we have Tessa and Abby as well. They know they have to be there for the team and I am proud of how they’ve done that so far.”
The Noles put the game out of reach from the get-go, scoring 11 runs in the bottom of the first inning as 17 batters came to the plate in the frame. Morgan Klaevemann walked twice, Dani Morgan was hit by a pitch twice and Jessica Warren opened the scoring with an RBI single. Additional walks to Sydney Broderick, Cali Harrod, Warren and Ellie Cooper continued the inning, while RBI singles by Deja Bush, Alex Powers and Harrod added to the Seminole run total.
Notre Dame brought in three pitchers in the inning as Caitlyn Brooks pitched just 0.1 of an inning, giving up four runs, two earned on a hit and two walks, taking the loss to move to 4-2 on the season. Rachel Nasland faced 11 batters but only retired one, allowing seven unearned runs to score on three hits and four walks without a strikeout. Katie Beriont got the Irish out of the inning, inducing a groundout to the first batter she faced.
Florida State brought in three more in the second inning as Bush led off with her second single of the game. She was retired as Klaevemann reached on a fielder’s choice, but Powers made it 13-0 with her fourth home run of the season to right field. Warren immediately followed with her eighth HR of the year to make it 14-0 Noles.
FSU’s Meghan King faced just 11 batters in her 3.0 innings to get the win and move to 13-0 on the season. She allowed just one hit and zero walks with a strikeout as Cassidy Davis entered to pitch the fourth inning.
The Irish got a runner to third in the fourth as Morgan Reed led off with a double and moved up on a passed ball. A walk to Brooks put runners on the corners, but Davis got out of the inning with a strikeout to Melissa Rochford and Katie Marino lining into a double play.
Freshman Anna Shelnutt produced the 16-0 final score by launching her first career home run to right field in the bottom of the fourth inning, scoring Warren who had reached base earlier in the inning on her fourth double of the year. The Noles loaded the bases later in the inning on a single by Davis and walks to Zoe Casas and Sabrina Stutsman, but all three would be left stranded.
Notre Dame threatened to break up the shutout in the fifth as Karley and Ali Wester, along with Kimmy Sullivan, hit a trio of two-out infield singles to load the bases. FSU’s Davis closed out the game by getting Reed to fly out to Korina Rosario in left field.
Davis gave up four hits with a walk and two strikeouts in her 2.0 shutout innings of relief.
ND’s Beriont allowed five runs on six hits with a walk and a strikeout in 2.2 innings, while Sara White tossed the final 0.2 innings of the game for the Irish, allowing a hit and two walks.
The Seminoles head out for a four-game road trip this week, taking on UCF in Orlando on March 22 at 6:00 p.m., before heading to Charlottesvile, Va., for a three-game series with Virginia on March 24-26.
