No. 3 FSU moves within one win of OKC with dominant victory over No. 14 UGA

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Noles247) - No. 3 Florida State softball (54-9) moved one win away from the Women’s College World Series with an 8-1 win over No. 14 Georgia (42-14) on Thursday night at JoAnne Graf Field. Kathryn Sandercock notched her 26th win of the season as she held the Bulldogs’ powerful offense to one run over 5.2 innings. The offense produced a pair of four-run frames to run away with a game-one win. Kaley Mudge led the offense with three hits and three RBI.

FSU: 8 runs / 9 hits / 0 errors

UGA: 1 run / 6 hits / 2 errors

After scoring one run in 14 innings on Sunday of the Tallahassee regional, the offense failed to plate a run through the first two frames. But they broke out in a timely manner as they posted a crooked number on the scoreboard in the third.

Josie Muffley led off the frame with a single. Kaley Mudge followed with a double into the right-center gap to plate Muffley. The double was Mudge’s 16th of the season.

Two batters later, Kalei Harding smoked a double of her own into the left-center gap to score Mudge. The double was FSU’s 116th of the season, which set the school record for most doubles in a season. The Seminoles entered the weekend with the most doubles in the country.

After the double, Michaela Edenfield ripped a one-hopper past the UGA shortstop for an RBI single. Edenfield, who reached second on the throw home, was pinch-ran for by Autumn Belviy. On a 4-6 fielder’s choice, Belviy never stopped running around third and scored from second to extend the lead to three.

The four-run third was plenty of support for Sandercock. UGA got on the board with a leadoff solo shot from Sydney Kuma. Outside of that, Sandercock repeatedly induced soft contact to put together another quality outing in the circle. She worked three straight scoreless frames after the homer, including a 1-2-3 fourth with the help of an unassisted double play by Mack Leonard.

FSU led 4-1, entering the bottom of the fifth. Harding led off the frame with her second double before two walks loaded the bases. Hallie Wacaser snuck a chopper through the right side of the infield to plate a pair and extend the lead to five.

Mudge came through with two outs to extend the lead to seven. FSU led 8-1 through five after posting their second four-run frame.

Sandercock retired the first two batters of the sixth before being replaced by Ali DuBois. Sanderock posted a final line of 5.2 IP, 6 H, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 R, and 63 pitches. DuBois struck out a batter to end the frame. She returned to the circle for the seventh and produced a 1-2-3 frame to notch the game one victory.

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