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Softball FSU finishes off sweep of Duke with a 9-2 win

Bob Ferrante

Ultimate Seminole Insider
Staff
May 10, 2022
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The No. 9 Florida State softball team (29-5, 6-0 ACC) capped off a great week as it completed the series sweep against No. 18 Duke (21-12, 4-5) with a dominating 9-2 win over the Blue Devils on Sunday afternoon at Duke Softball Stadium. This is FSU's first road sweep over an ACC ranked team since they swept No. 18 Virginia Tech on Apr. 20-22, 2023. FSU finished the week 4-0 against ranked opponent and outscored its opponents 38-19 in the four games.

Jaysoni Beachum got things started with a moonshot of a home run in the top of the first inning to give the Noles a 1-0 lead. Beachum now has 10 home runs and 33 RBI on the season.

Annabelle Widra got the start in the circle and was terrific as she retired 9 out of the first 10 batters she faced to keep the Blue Devils' offense in check.

The Noles' bats stayed hot in the third inning as Angelee Bueno singled and advanced all the way to third on an error to immediately give the Noles a runner in scoring position. Isa Torres doubled up the middle to put the Noles up 2-0. Beachum was intentionally walked and a after a couple of fielder's choices, Katie Dack hit an infield single, and Jahni Kerr singled through the left side to put FSU up 4-0.

Hallie Wacaser and Amaya Ross hit a couple of singles in the fourth inning, and after Ross stole second, Torres picked up her second and third RBI of the day on a single to center field to give FSU a commanding 6-0 lead.

Duke responded with a couple of runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to cut the lead to four, but FSU responded with another run in the fifth inning as Ashtyn Danley singled up the middle to extend the lead to five. The Noles added two more runs in the top of the sixth as Dack picked up her second and third RBI of the day on a single to give FSU a commanding 9-2 lead.

Danley had another great outing in the circle as she relieved Widra in the fourth inning and threw four scoreless innings to pick up her sixth win of the season to improve to 6-1. Danley pitched 8.2 innings against the Blue Devils and allowed just one earned run on the weekend.

Torres led the way with a 3-for-5 afternoon with three RBI. Bueno, Dack, Danley and Kerr also picked up multi-hit games for the Noles.

FSU will begin its eight-game homestand on Wednesday against Stetson at 3 p.m. on ACCNX.
 
I'm thrilled with the sweep but I'm concerned about our pitching. Right now we seem to be relying on out hitting other teams but I'm worried when we face really great pitching, we won't get all those hits and our pitching right now isn't shutting anyone down consistently.
 
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I'm thrilled with the sweep but I'm concerned about our pitching. Right now we seem to be relying on out hitting other teams but I'm worried when we face really great pitching, we won't get all those hits and our pitching right now isn't shutting anyone down consistently.
Our pitching is much better than last year. It was awful last year.
 
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I'm thrilled with the sweep but I'm concerned about our pitching. Right now we seem to be relying on out hitting other teams but I'm worried when we face really great pitching, we won't get all those hits and our pitching right now isn't shutting anyone down consistently.
Can't take anything for granted, but our pitchers in that game have an ERA of 1.78 and 1.51. ~71% of Danley's pitches were strikes; 68% of Widra's pitches were for strikes.

Love them Lady Noles :Go Seminoles 🥎🏆
 
I'm thrilled with the sweep but I'm concerned about our pitching. Right now we seem to be relying on out hitting other teams but I'm worried when we face really great pitching, we won't get all those hits and our pitching right now isn't shutting anyone down consistently.
Oregon was a great example.
 
Not sure Oregon is a good example if we are questioning our pitching. We lost to them 2-0 and 1-0. You can't win if you don't put a run on the board.
The Texas A&M games would be a better example.
You're right...I should have bolded the part I was referring to about not hitting against really good pitching.
 
You're right...I should have bolded the part I was referring to about not hitting against really good pitching.
Exactly! When you're up against really good pitching, you hope to manufacture a couple of runs but you won't get number of runs we got this weekend. You have to be able to rely on your pitching more to shut the opponent out.
 
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You're right...I should have bolded the part I was referring to about not hitting against really good pitching.
It is a valid consideration and the Oregon example is noteworthy, however, I think it is useful to remember that was early in the season and we were still fleshing out the batting order and the pitching rotation. None of that makes any difference if you your bats disappear, which can happen in this sport when you least expect it. Similarly, pitchers have bad outings. That's when you have to have a bullpen that can correct that in real time. Traditionally, Lonnie manages that very well. Last season was an exception to this, but we just didn't have the same talent due to graduation.
 
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Exactly! When you're up against really good pitching, you hope to manufacture a couple of runs but you won't get number of runs we got this weekend. You have to be able to rely on your pitching more to shut the opponent out.
If Reid could recover from her injury and return anywhere close to her freshman season form it would definitely help.
 
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