TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day may have provided luck to people elsewhere, but at JoAnne Graf Field on Friday night, the team in green was unable to get a runner to third base as No. 1 Florida State (26-1-1, 7-0 ACC) posted a 6-0 shutout of Notre Dame (12-11, 1-3 ACC) to open the three-game conference series.
“It was nice to get off to a good start in this series,” said FSU head coach Lonni Alameda. “One of our goals is to win every conference series and to get game one on our side puts us in a good position to do that the rest of the weekend. We did a good job today offensively, as well as with our pitching and defense. Definitely nice to be back home in this beautiful weather in front of our great fans.”
The Noles jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning as Morgan Klaevemann led off with a bunt single. The base hit extended her team-high hitting streak to nine games and she reached base for the 13th straight game.
Klaevemann stole second and moved to third on a fly out by Dani Morgan. Alex Powers walked and stole second, and Jessica Warren recorded her fifth sacrifice fly of the season to give the Noles the lead.
FSU scored again in the second inning on a solo home run by Cali Harrod, her fifth home run of the season. Harrod has 23 hits on the season, with 13 going for extra bases on five doubles, three triples and five home runs.
Notre Dame got its first base hit of the game against FSU starter Meghan King with two outs in the third inning, as Karley Wester slapped a single to short. FSU’s Harrod made a diving stop on a ball hit by Ali Wester and flipped to Ellie Cooper at second to end the inning.
The Noles added to their lead in the fourth inning as Zoe Casas singled to left and was pinch-run for by Korina Rosario. A walk to Klaevemann was followed by a two-RBI double by Powers to make it 4-0 Seminoles. Warren launched her seventh home run of the season to bring in two more runs for a 6-0 advantage.
It is the 16th time this season that Florida State has scored at least four runs in an inning, and FSU has now scored at least one run in 73 of 160 offensive innings this year.
Powers hit another double in the sixth inning to extend her nation-leading doubles total to 13 on the season.
King improved to 12-0 and tossed her second complete-game shutout of the season, scattering just three hits over 7.0 innings with four strikeouts and zero walks. No Irish runner reached third base in the game and FSU’s Broderick threw out ND’s Karley Wester at second on a steal attempt in the top of the sixth inning.
Notre Dame’s Rachel Nasland (6-5) gave up six runs over 4.0 innings, with six hits, four walks and three strikeouts. Caitlyn Brooks tossed the final 2.0 innings for the Irish, allowing one hit and a walk.
Florida State and Notre Dame will continue their three-game series on Saturday, March 18 at 1:00 p.m. Game two will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra, with live stats and a radio broadcast available on Seminoles.com. Admission is free for all regular season home games at JoAnne Graf Field.
There will be several road closures on the Florida State campus throughout the weekend on Chieftan Way and Champions Way. Fans are encouraged to arrive at the Seminole Softball Complex from the west on Stadium Drive and Spirit Way.
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.
