5/13/2023 other sports Edit

FSU softball walks off Duke to win 19th ACC Tournament Championship

Devyn Flaherty and Bethaney Keen celebrate FSU's walk-off win on Saturday. (FSU sports information)

Curt Weiler • TheOsceola

Senior Writer

For the 14th time in program history, the Florida State softball team completed its ACC Championship sweep Saturday afternoon.

On a bloop single by Bethaney Keen in the bottom of the seventh inning, second baseman Devyn Flaherty came all the way around from first base on the play to score the winning run of the Seminoles' 2-1 win over Duke in the ACC Championship Game on Saturday afternoon in South Bend, Ind.

It's the 14th time FSU has won both the ACC regular-season and tournament championships, the 19th time the Seminoles have won the ACC Tournament and their eighth ACC Tournament crown in the last nine seasons.

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The Seminoles seemed poised to potentially not need a walk-off when they appeared to have a prime chance to take the lead in the bottom of the sixth. However, they were denied by a bizarre series of events.

After a leadoff single by Jahni Kerr, Michaela Edenfield ripped a ball to the third baseman, which seemed to be caught but then was dropped by the third baseman with one out. The subsequent throw to first base, which was either to finish off a double play or retire Edenfield was off target.

At first, it was ruled that FSU would have runners on second and third with one out. After deliberation from the umpires, though, it was ruled that the third baseman caught the ball and got an inning-ending double play at first, even though the throw didn't make it there.

FSU took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on a two-out double by Kerr, which brought in Kaley Mudge from first base after she reached on a two-out bunt single.

Duke tied the game at 1 in the bottom of the fifth inning when it put a leadoff runner on second thanks to a leadoff error by FSU shortstop Josie Muffley, who advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and came in to score on a passed ball.

While Makenna Reid got the start for FSU in the circle in the championship game against the Blue Devils, it was redshirt senior Kathryn Sandercock who did the majority of the heavy lifting when it came to pitching Saturday.

Sandercock (23-3) threw the final five innings of the championship game, allowing one unearned run over five innings of work on two hits with a walk and five strikeouts.

She stranded the bases loaded in her first inning of work in the third and stranded five total runners over her five innings. Overall, FSU's pitchers stranded seven Duke runners while the Seminoles stranded just three baserunners.

The Seminoles won the ACC regular-season championship and tournament title. (FSU sports information)

Up next

FSU enters the NCAA Tournament having won 16 straight games, the third-longest active winning streak in the country.

FSU will once again be a top-eight national seed in this year's NCAA Tournament, which begins next weekend. Who FSU will be hosting for the Tallahassee Regional will be announced Sunday at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.