NCAA Regional: FSU softball defeats Howard and will face South Florida

FSU softball 56-5, 19-5 ACC) defeated the No. 4 seed Howard Bison 8-0 in the Tallahassee Regional Friday night and will face the South Florida Bulls Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.

No. 3 seed South Florida defeated No. 2 seed Mississippi State 4-0 to advance to the winner’s bracket. The Noles scored a run in the bottom of the first inning when Kaley Mudge led off with a double, and two more walks loaded the bases.

A bases-loaded walk scored the first run, but the Noles couldn’t push any more runs across. However, Devyn Flaherty led off the bottom of the fourth with a hit by a pitch.

She stole second and third before Jahni Kerr drove her home with an RBI single to make it 2-0. Kerr stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a sacrifice fly by Chloe Culp to make it 3-0. A sacrifice fly by Josie Muffley made it 4-0.

The Noles got on the scoreboard again in the fifth inning behind a RBI double from Mack Leonard, and a sacrifice fly from Jahni Kerr made it 6-0. RBI singles from Michaela Edenfield and Chloe Culp pushed the lead to 8-0 to end the game via run rule.

FSU starting pitcher Danielle Watson fired a no-hitter in the run rule game, striking out five and walking one.

USF used their ace pitcher, Georgina Corrick, for a complete game shut out of the Bulldogs. Kathryn Sandercock will likely pitch for the Noles Saturday. South Florida isn’t a great hitting team, which should give the Noles an advantage.

They came into the regional hitting .269, with 31 home runs, 70 doubles, and eight triples. The Bulls are solid defensively, carrying a .971 field percentage, althought they committed two errors Friday.

South Florida’s second best pitcher, Erin Poepping, has a 3.24 ERA, and doesn’t overpower hitters and has nearly as many walks as strikeouts. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Corrick pitching for them again at some point, as she threw 121 pitches Friday.