Dan Fleser
Florida State hit too many homers and had too much pitching for Tennessee to overcome on Monday night.
The No. 3 seed Seminoles overcame an early deficit for a 5-1 victory, eliminating the Lady Vols from the Women’s College World Series. Home runs by Michaela Edenfield, Bethaney Keen and Hallie Wacaser eclipsed Zadi Puni’s first-inning homer for Tennessee.
Three pitchers combined to hold the fourth-seeded Lady Vols (51-10) to three hits. All-American Kathryn Sandercock threw the final three innings for the save.
Here’s what happened:
-Florida State flipped a key hitting script with the bottom of its batting order doing some serious damage. Keen and Wacaser hit No. 7 and No. 8 in the Seminoles’ lineup. Keen’s homer was her first since 2021. Wacaser’s homer was her fourth of the season.
The bottom of Tennessee’s order had been a strength during the NCAA tournament. But after producing four runs and four RBIs in the Lady Vols’ WCWS opener against Alabama, the Nos 6 through 9 hitters were a collective 1 for 27 at the plate in UT’s final three games in Oklahoma City. They were 1-for-10 with two walks on Monday.
In its last three WCWS games, Tennessee, which had the second-leading offense nationally, scored only 4 runs and had seven hits.
-After throwing 136 pitches in Sunday’s victory over Oklahoma State, Tennessee All-American Ashley Rogers came on in relief and threw 30 more to the Seminoles. She surrendered an RBI single and Wacaser’s homer.
-Puni finished with six homers and 14 RBIs in the tournament.