FSU softball: Major takeaways from advancing to Super Regionals to face Oklahoma

FSU softball (46-14) advanced to the Super Regionals with wins over Chattanooga, UCF, and Auburn in the Tallahassee Regional. It was far from dominant, but it was one of the tougher regionals from an RPI standpoint. FSU didn't finish the regular season or ACC Tournament like they wanted, losing both titles to Duke. The Noles have been without one of its best pitchers for the past month. However, the Noles earned a host bid as the No. 15 overall seed, which started a new season. If we gave people who follow FSU softball closely some truth serum after the Clearwater Invitational. Most would have taken making the Super Regionals, especially if they knew Makenna Reid would miss a large part of the season and regionals. Ironically, it's been the pitching that's been the most consistent lately. Let's look at some major takeaways from the Tallahassee Regional:

Allison Royalty's performance in two of the three games was big-time. Royalty struggles with control and issuing too many walks, but she avoided allowing those mistakes to cost her, especially against Chattanooga. Mimi Gooden has quietly put together a solid freshman campaign, and her start against UCF helped alleviate some pressure off of Ashtyn Danley. Danley closed out the first two games in relief and started against Auburn. She issued too many walks against Auburn, but like Royalty, she avoided it turning into major damage on the scoreboard. However, they can't afford to do that against someone like Oklahoma.

Offensively, it was a mixed bag. FSU trailed Chattanooga late and needed some late-game heroics to avoid going into the loser's bracket. They jumped on UCF early with five runs in the second inning but didn't score afterward. They had four hits, six walks, and only three strikeouts. However, the heavy hitters in the lineup didn't get going until after Auburn took an early 2-0 lead. The FSU offense exploded for seven runs in the top of the sixth to break open a 3-3 game. The offense in that inning is what the Noles will need if they want to get past Oklahoma.

Oklahoma isn't the same dominant team as they were the past 2-3 years. However, they are still really good. FSU doesn't have near the pitching it had with Kathryn Sandercock, but this year's offense is better and more powerful than last year. Can the FSU offense carry the day against Oklahoma?