FSU softball: Noles face No. 9 Texas in Elite Invitational

No. 5 FSU softball (6-0, 0-0 ACC) will look to remain unbeaten when they take on No. 9 Texas Friday afternoon in the Elite Invitational Tournament.

The Noles cruised past No. 15 Tennessee 9-3 in the Tournament opener Thursday. The Noles used nine hits, five walks, and two home runs to sink the Volunteers. FSU batters only struck out twice, both going to Sydney Sherrill, who seems to be pressing a bit at the plate.

FSU pitcher Danielle Watson was solid, going six innings, allowing five hits, striking out four, and walking one with three earned runs allowed. FSU’s defense did her no favors with three errors in the game. Texas enters the game (5-1, 0-0) with a loss against Florida Gulf Coast they avenged two games later.

Texas defeated McNeese State 8-4 Wednesday before traveling to Florida for their games in the Elite Invitational. Texas batters are hitting .296 while striking out 12 percent of the time. They’ve hit seven home runs, seven doubles, and three triples with an on-base percentage of .406.

They are a better hitting team than Tennessee and have eight batters hitting .300 or better. When it comes to aggressiveness on the basepaths, they are 8 of 9 on stolen base attempts. Defensively, they’ll kick it around with nine errors committed through six games.

Texas pitchers are solid, allowing a .201 batting average with 37 strikeouts against seven walks. They haven’t allowed any home runs and only six extra-base hits.

Tennessee put the ball in play often, and Texas will likely do the same thing, which is why it’s imperative for FSU’s defense to avoid errors and extend innings for good hitting teams.

The Vols left seven runners on base, and that is a position they’ll want to avoid against Texas. The game will begin at 1 p.m. ET on ESPNU, and Chopchat will have the LIVE play-by-play on Twitter if you can’t watch the game.