10 and Oh! FSU Softball walks off No. 3 UCLA, stays perfect on season
CLEARWATER – The sixth-ranked Florida State softball team stayed unbeaten after walking off No. 3 UCLA in extra innings Sunday night. The 'Noles remain unbeaten and have won five straight games against ranked teams. Head coach Lonni Alameda improved to 11-3 against UCLA in her time at Florida State.
Kalei Harding walked off the Bruins in the bottom of the eighth inning with a double to left-center, scoring Jahni Kerr.
Danielle Watson started the game for Florida State (10-0) and pitched the first 4.2 innings, recording five strikeouts. She let up three runs in the game, one earned. Kathryn Sandercock entered the game with one batter on in the fifth inning and got out of it. She finished the game with four strikeouts while only allowing one hit.
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UCLA (7-3) scored first in the second inning with two runs after an error by Jahni Kerr. FSU bounced right back and got a run of their own in the bottom of the second inning. Michaela Edenfield led off the inning with a solo blast way over the wall in center field.
Florida State took the lead in the fourth inning with two runs scored off of a Bethaney Keen single to shallow left field. Edenfield led off the inning with a walk and Devyn Flaherty doubled down the right-field line. Keen’s two-RBI single came with one out.
The Bruins tied it back up in the fifth off of their own solo home run to center field by Kinsley Washington.
Nothing else was going until the game went into extra innings. The international tiebreaker came into play in the eighth inning and UCLA loaded the bases on Sandercock after an error and a walk. Sandercock got out of it after forcing Thessa Malau’ulu to fly out to center field.
Harding secured the win for the Noles as she doubled to left-center with one out, scoring Kerr from second base.
FSU played and defeated five teams in the ESPN Elite Invitational, and all five were ranked -- No. 3 UCLA, No. 9 Texas, No. 15 Tennessee, No. 16 Michigan and No. 24 UCF.
Florida State next plays host to Florida A&M on Wednesday at 6 p.m. p.m. The game is on the ACC Network.
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