FSU softball: How Noles matchup with No. 4 Tennessee in WCWS

No. 3 seed FSU softball (57-9) will face No. 4 Tennessee in the WCWS Semifinals for a chance to play for a national title.

FSU had Sunday off after defeating No. 7 Washington Saturday night to stay in the winner’s bracket.

Tennessee faced Oklahoma State Sunday in an elimination game and won 3-1 to stay alive and for the opportunity to play FSU Monday night.

If FSU wins that game, they’ll go on to play for a national title against the winner of Oklahoma/Stanford. If they lose against Tennessee, the Lady Vols have to beat them again to advance.

How do the Noles match up with Tennessee?

The good news is this will be Tennessee’s fourth game since Thursday night. They have one of the better pitching staffs in the country, but they only have three dependable arms, and their top pitcher (Ashley Rogers) threw a complete game Sunday (136 pitches).

She also threw 75 pitches in the loss against Oklahoma on Saturday. FSU ace pitcher, Kathryn Sandercock probably doesn’t get the start but will have a day of rest after throwing 90 pitches Saturday night against Washington.

Their No. 2 pitcher (Payton Gottshall) hasn’t pitched since they played Alabama, where she allowed three earned runs in three innings.

FSU has played several teams with similar offensive identities to Tennessee. Clemson, Va Tech, and Georgia are all similar from a power perspective (FSU beat all three).

Tennessee has three batters hitting over .300 with double-digit home runs, but the rest of the lineup isn’t scary.

They strike out in 18.6 percent of their at-bats and aren’t big threats to steal, aside from Kiki Milloy(39 of 40). They are solid defensively, with a .973 fielding percentage.

The key to the game will be FSU pitching. I could see Coach Alameda starting Mack Leonard because of her ability to stay low in the strike zone with her drop ball.

She’s also been excellent in her last few outings. If FSU gets solid starting pitching and avoids the base-on-balls, I can see the FSU softball offense coming alive and putting a lot of pressure on Tennessee. The game will air on ESPN at 7 p.m. ET.