It seemed, on paper, that the Tallahassee Super Regional was going to be an intriguing matchup of a strength against a strength.
A versatile and extraordinary Florida State softball pitching staff that ranked in the top 10 nationally in earned run average against a powerful Georgia lineup that ranked in the top five nationally in home runs and the top 15 in batting average.
As it turned out, at least on this weekend, one team’s strength was markedly better than the other’s.
The FSU pitching staff muzzled the Bulldogs’ bats in a two-game sweep, paving the way to the Seminoles’ 12th trip to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.
In a true team effort by the entire staff, four FSU pitchers combined to allow three total runs over two games against a Georgia offense that entered the weekend averaging 6.3 runs per game and scored 32 games in three regional games last weekend.
“Very proud,” FSU coach Lonni Alameda said, almost at a loss for words, when asked about what her pitching staff accomplished vs. UGA.
All season long, Alameda has practiced what she’s preached with her full-staff pitching approach. Even though she has an absolute ace on her staff in the form of redshirt senior pitcher Kathryn Sandercock, Alameda has given plenty of opportunities to her entire array of arms. From promising freshman Makenna Reid (74.1 innings this season) to Arizona State transfer Allison Royalty (68 innings) and Boston University transfer Ali DuBois (48.1 innings) as well as second-year Eastern Illinois transfer Mack Leonard (30 innings), Alameda has been a trailblazer in the college softball space when it comes to utilizing specialists, brief relief appearances and every weapon in the arsenal to combat the historic softball ways of regular complete games and relying heavily on a smaller number of pitchers.
Each of the FSU pitchers used this weekend (all the semi-regular contributors except for Royalty) paid that loyalty back to their head coach with exceptional performances in the circle.
Sandercock was excellent starting Thursday’s opening game of the series, allowing one run over 5.2 innings, but Alameda elected to hand the ball to Leonard for the start in Game 2.
Leonard had made just two starts since May 3, tossing two innings of an ACC Tournament win over Syracuse and then throwing four no-hit innings in FSU’s NCAA Tournament opener vs. Marist. And yet, the senior thrived in the moment, allowing just one run on two hits over 4.1 innings of work, the longest pitching outing of her two-year FSU career.
“I was actually in the training room and got the notification on my phone about the starting lineup (when I found out I was starting) and was like, ‘Oh, cool,’ ” Leonard said. “I kind of had it in the back of my head. Coacha mentioned we were going to hammer out some drop balls and changeups to them in scout this morning. I was like, ‘Oh I really want (to start). I really want the ball in my hand.’ I was hoping she would put me in there. I’m glad I could do what I did. I honestly didn’t have a single nerve. I just had excitement. All I had in mind was, ‘Just get it done.’ ”
When Leonard issued a one-out walk in the fifth inning, a well-timed pitching change brought Reid in out of the bullpen. Reid responded to the challenge with a pair of consecutive strikeouts to strand the tying run at the plate.
And when Reid allowed an unearned run and was in a jam in the sixth inning, Sandercock cleaned up her mess, retiring three straight batters, including two strikeouts, after walking the first batter she faced to strand the go-ahead run at the plate. Sandercock followed that up with a tight-rope walk of a seventh inning to secure her ninth save of the season and close the book on a collective pitching master class at JoAnne Graf Field this weekend.
“We’re all comfortable with (the collective pitching approach) right now,” Alameda said. “I couldn’t be more proud of how it has gone because we’re going to Oklahoma City, but I think even if today wasn’t the result it was, I think we had a really good plan, were really comfortable with it.”
It’s worth putting into perspective exactly what the FSU pitching staff accomplished. UGA entered the weekend leading the SEC this season in both home runs (91) and batting average (.322). While the Bulldogs did have 11 hits between the two games, only one of those hits was an extra-base hit, Sydney Kuma’s solo home run in the second inning of Game 1.
Additionally, UGA failed in nearly all of its opportunities with runners on base. Between the two games, the Bulldogs were a combined 3 of 26 (.115) with runners on base and 2 for 14 (.143) with runners in scoring position.
Perhaps even more impressive than that, the FSU pitching staff almost entirely stifled the best hitters in the Georgia lineup. The three through six hitters in UGA’s batting order entered the weekend each hitting .330 or better with 12 or more homers apiece this season.
This quartet – three of whom were All-SEC first-team players – were a combined 3 for 22 vs. FSU with one extra-base hit and seven strikeouts. In Friday’s series clincher, these four were hitless in 11 at-bats.
This FSU roster is loaded with players who have fully embraced their roles, including those who serve as pinch-runners, defensive replacements or aren’t seeing the field at all this time of year. So it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that the Seminoles’ pitching staff is the same way.
There are no prominent egos or beliefs about how someone’s role should be larger to be found anywhere in FSU’s pen of arms. Instead, all you’ll find is an altruistic group of players who have totally bought into Alameda’s family culture she has built within her program.
That collective buy-in may be one of the biggest reasons why FSU is headed back to the promised land that is Oklahoma City with probably the best odds of anyone to play spoiler to the mighty, two-time defending champs Oklahoma.
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