TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Recording a regular season sweep in ACC play for the 20th time in its last 29 conference series, No. 9 Florida State (31-4, 10-1 ACC) finished a perfect weekend with a 12-4 victory in five innings over NC State (17-24, 3-9 ACC) on Sunday afternoon. It marked the 15th time this season that the Seminoles have earned a run-rule victory.
Sunday’s game was also FSU Softball’s “Paint It Pink” game, where the team wore special pink jerseys for the game to raise awareness for breast cancer and pink shirts were available for fans for a $10 donation to the Sharon Ewing Walker Breast Health Center of Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare.
The FSU players also wore gray bows in their hair to bring awareness for brain cancer, as Madison Marshall and Monk Bonasorte, two people close to the program are currently battling various brain tumors this spring.
“Cancer impacts everyone, and we love having a special day to honor those who are are fighting through this terrible disease,” said FSU head coach Lonni Alameda. “From Monk and Madison right now, to Taylor Foster and others that have been such a big part of this program, we want to do whatever we can to raise money, raise awareness, raise spirits and play for those who can’t.
“The game is almost secondary at that point, but I thought we played well this afternoon. It is difficult facing a team for the third time and we did an excellent job of making adjustments and taking advantages of our opportunities. JB tossed a great game and we were able to get the bats going and put some runs on the board.”
For the third straight game, FSU scored immediately in the bottom of the first, putting up five runs to break out to an early 5-0 lead. Morgan Klaevemann led off the game with a walk, one of four walks for the sophomore on the day, and stole second base. Ellie Cooper pushed a bunt past the NC State pitcher Brittany Nimmo and into the hole vacated by the Wolfpack second baseman who left to cover first, allowing Klaevemann to score on the infield single.
After a double by Alex Powers, Sydney Broderick made it 2-0 with a sacrifice fly to center field. An RBI double by Zoe Casas and a two-RBI single from Victoria East, both with two outs, closed out the scoring in the opening inning for Florida State.
It marked the 17th time that the Seminoles have scored five or more runs in an inning this season.
Cooper added to the lead with an RBI triple in the second inning, her team-leading fourth triple of the season, to score Klaevemann and make it 6-0 Florida State.
NC State threatened in the fourth inning as Molly Hutchison led off the frame with a double to left, followed by a four-pitch walk to Meredith Burroughs. FSU starting pitcher Jessica Burroughs got the next batter to ground into a double play to third as Warren fielded the ball, stepped on the bag and tossed to Cooper at second base to complete the play. A groundout to third ended the inning and kept the game at 6-0.
The Noles brought in three more in the fourth to take a 9-0 lead in three different ways. Broderick drove in a run on an RBI single to left, Casas added another with her fourth sacrifice fly of the season and a bases-loaded walk to Klaevemann brought in the final run of the frame.
NC State delayed the conclusion of the game, scoring four runs in the top of the fifth inning to cut the FSU lead to 9-4. FSU’s Burroughs had faced just two batters over the minimum through the first four innings, but allowed the first two runners to reach base in the fifth on a pair of singles.
After NC State moved the runners to second and third on sacrifice bunt, freshman pitcher Tessa Daniels entered the circle for the Noles. Daniels retired the first batter she faced on a line out to third for the second out of the inning, but a two-RBI single from Tyler Ross and a two-run home run from Hutchison extended the game into the bottom of the fifth. Daniels ended the inning with a strikeout, her fourth of the season.
Powers led off the Seminole fifth inning with her second double of the game, followed by Warren’s second hit-by-pitch of the game. Broderick drove in her third RBI of the game on a single to center, extending the FSU lead to 10-4.
After a walk to Carsyn Gordon, her third of the game, to load the bases, East made it 11-4 after reaching on a fielding error by NC State second baseman, Molly Martin. Freshman Jasmine Palmer came to the plate as a pinch hitter with the bases loaded and drove in the final run on an RBI ground out to the second baseman, securing the 12-4 victory in five innings for Florida State.
Burroughs (18-2) earned the win, giving up two runs on four hits with one walk and four strikeouts. In relief, Daniels tossed 0.2 innings, giving up two hits, two runs with zero walks and one strikeout.
The Seminoles will head to Gainesville on Wednesday, April 13 to face No. 2 Florida (38-3) at 7:00 pm.
***Courtesy FSU Athletics
