FSU softball lands five players in the D1 Softball top 100 players

FSU softball came up a tad short in their bid for another National Championship against No. 1 seed Oklahoma last season. The Noles had great leadership in ace pitcher Kathryn Sandercock, pitcher/1B Mack Leonard, and defensive wiz Josie Muffley. It will be tough to replace Kathryn Sandercock on the mound, but FSU signed one of the top recruiting classes nationally while returning a ton of experience for 2024. The Noles enter most of the national preseason polls ranked inside the top five. D1 Softball has them at No. 4, and Softball America has them at No. 3. The reason? FSU returns five of the top 100 players in the nation, according to D1Softball:

• Kalei Harding checks in at No. 75, starting 68 of 69 games last year. She was second on the team with 10 home runs and 48 RBI. She was a solid glove in the field at third base or rightfield with an absolute cannon for an arm. 
• Makenna Reid checks in at No. 69 with a perfect 13-0 record and a team-leading 0.97 ERA as a freshman last season. She struck out 91 batters in 79 innings, and will likely assume the role as the No. 1 pitcher in Sandercock's absence. 
• Michaela Edenfield checks in at No. 52, leading the team with 13 home runs and 56 RBI. She also had a team-leading .442 on-base percentage. 
• Kaley Mudge checks in at No. 40 and was second on the team with a .346 batting average. She was 19 of 25 on stolen bases and didn't make a single error in leftfield with 76 putouts. She also had an on-base percentage of .406.
• Jahni Kerr checks in at No. 28, leading the team with a .356 batting average. She had eight home runs and 40 RBI, and 14 of 16 in stolen bases. 

That's a lot of offensive firepower and their most proven pitcher returning in 2024. FSU will have some new faces at a couple of spots, but I'm excited to see how this team puts it together. The garnet and gold scrimmage game will be on February 3rd, with the first game set for February 8th in the JoAnne Graf Classic against .