Sloppy Play dooms FSU Softball

Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

The eighth-seeded Florida State Seminoles softball team dropped a 17-3 contest to the unseeded Michigan Wolverines tonight at JoAnne Graf Field. This is the first time the ‘Noles have hosted an NCAA Super Regional, and they looked uncharacteristcially inexperienced from the onset.

The Wolverines got to National Player of the Year finalist and Seminole starting pitcher Lacey Waldrop in the top of the first inning. After striking out the U of M leadoff hitter, Fellow POTR finalist Sierra Romero lined a ball right back at Waldrop. It popped out of her glove, and Romero wound up at first. Following another single and a passed ball, Michigan went up 1-0 when Romero scored on a Sierra Lawrence base hit.

FSU got the run right back in the bottom of the inning when Tiffani Brown chopped a ball to third. Brown’s speed forced a throw that sailed wide, and she registered a hit while making it to second on the poor throw. On a questionable decision, Brown was sent home on Courtney Senas’ bloop single to right and was thrown out easily. This allowed Michigan starter Haylie Wagner to intentionally walk ACC Player of the Year Maddie O’Brien, who came into the contest batting a robust .441. When Kelly Hensley lined a pitch to right, Senas was sent home as well, but this time the ‘Nole baserunner beat RF Nicole Sappingfield’s arm and tied the score at 1-1. Wagner struck out two to escape the inning.

After Waldrop set down the Wolverines in order in the second, The ‘Noles got right back to work with their bats. Victoria East hit a one-out single, followed by a Briana Hamilton infield hit. That brought up Senas, whose two-out liner to left plated East and Hamilton and gave Florida State a 3-1 edge. After another intentional walk to O’Brien, U of M made a pitching change, calling on Megan Betsa, who quelled the ‘Nole threat.

Waldrop walked Sappingfield and Romero to start the third, and a misplayed bunt brought home Michigan’s second unearned run of the night, bringing the score to 3-2. Another Lawrence RBI single brought Romero across and evened things up at 3-3. Waldrop’s third walk of the inning loaded the bases with nobody out, and a single by Lauren Sweet scored two to make it 5-3. The fourth walk of the inning from the laboring Waldrop reloaded the bases, and pinch hitter Kelly Christner lined a solid single back up the middle for the fifth Wolverine run of the inning, making the score 6-3.

Freshman Jessica Burroughs relieved Waldrop, inheriting a sacks-packed, nobody-out nightmare. She struck out Lyndsay Doyle and induced a weak pop out from Sappingfield, bringing up Romero in a critical two-out, bases-loaded situation. The latter grounded a 3-2 pitch back through the middle, and the Michigan lead grew to 8-3 before Burroughs escaped on a grounder to second. All four U of M batters who drew a base on balls in the frame wound up touching home plate.

After Burroughs posted a 1-2-3 top of the fourth, FSU had a great chance to claw back into it. Brown drilled a one-out triple to deep center for the ‘Noles, and Senas reached on a misplaced grounder by Romero. Michigan again walked O’Brien, loading the bases for Hensley, whose weak pop to short was the second out. Bailey Schinella couldn’t replicate Romero’s heroics, striking out on a full-count heater from Betsa.

The Wolverines made it 9-3 when Brown’s errant throw to first on a routine grounder from Lyndsay Doyle allowed her to get all the way to second. She was doubled home by Sappingfield for U of M’s fifth unearned run.

Burroughs pitched well until the sixth, when the first three Wolverines reached base. Reliever Jessica Nori came on with  — that’s right — the bases loaded and nobody out. She hit Abby Ramirez to make it 10-3, and another run came across on an illegal pitch. A Doyle single brought the margin to 12-3, followed by another illegal pitch that made it 13-3. Caitlin Blanchard’s two-out single drove in two, and the score became 15-3. The tally went to 17-3 on a two-RBI double by Sweet. It’s the most runs the ‘Noles have given up in 19 years.

Florida State now finds itself in a must-win situation in the best-of-three series. These teams meet again tomorrow at 4 pm. If FSU is able to force a rubber game, it will occur tomorrow at 7 pm.