FSU's Royalty, Danley shut down Stanford in top-10 showdown

Allison Royalty ran into trouble but tossed five shutout innings as No. 5 Florida State defeated No. 9 Stanford 4-0 on Thursday evening at the Clearwater Invitational.

Royalty (2-0) gave up four hits and two walks while also hitting two batters but she worked out of those issues with the help of three strikeouts and some stellar defensive play.

Isa Torres, Jaysoni Beachum and pinch runner Autum Belviy scored runs in the fifth as FSU broke open a scoreless game and Stanford committed three errors.

Devyn Flaherty scored in the sixth, reaching base on a bunt single and making her way around the bases with the benefit of two wild pitches. Flaherty also had a few defensive plays at second to record outs.

Among the top defensive plays was freshman Isa Torres, who went vertical to snare a line drive to end the fourth inning.

Jahni Kerr went 2 for 3 with a double, an RBI and a sac fly for the Seminoles (5-1).

Ashtyn Danley tossed two shutout innings, recording three strikeouts and earning the save.

Stanford dropped to 4-3.

FSU will play No. 20 UCLA on Friday at 1 p.m. (ESPNU).