5 Things You May Have Missed in College Softball Saturday
FSU’s Jessie Warren Continues to Make NCAA History
Florida State posted an 8-3 victory over Virginia Tech on Saturday at JoAnne Graf Field. Seminole senior Jessie Warren continued to climb up the NCAA record books after finishing the afternoon with a home run and three RBI. The home run was Warren’s 71st of her career, moving her into a tie for 18th in NCAA history with five other players, including UCF’s Stephanie Best and Florida’s Lauren Haeger for the most home runs hit by a player from the state of Florida. The three RBI increased her career total to 237, which ranks 25th in NCAA softball history. The Seminoles and Hokies will play the final game of the series on Sunday at 11:00 a.m.
Georgia Takes Series Over Florida
The No. 8-ranked Georgia softball team defeated No. 2 Florida 11-1 in five innings, clinching the series win in front of a record home crowd of 2,011 fans on Saturday. With the win, Georgia has tied the program record with its 25th-consecutive victory. This is the first series win over the Gators since 2011 and the first run-rule victory over Florida since Apr. 2, 2005 (12-4, 6 innings). The bulldog offense outhit Florida 10-6 to secure the victory and Brittany Gray worked the full five innings from the mound to improve to 13-0 on the season. The Bulldogs will look for the series sweep Sunday at 2 p.m. at Jack Turner Stadium.
Arizona State Tops Washington in Series Opener
The No. 13 Sun Devil softball team (23-3, 1-0 Pac-12) knocked off the top-ranked Washington Huskies, handing them their first loss of the season Saturday evening in front of a season-high 1,532 fans at Farrington Stadium. The 2-0 win over the No. 1 Huskies marks the second year in a row the Sun Devils beat a top-10 team at home (April 21, 2017 against No. 10 Utah). Sophomore pitcher G Juarez was on fire in the circle, striking out 11 Husky batters and not allowing any runs. It marks the eighth time this season the lefty has struck out double-digit batters in a single game and her seventh-straight shutout victory. ASU and Washington will meet for game two of the conference series on Sunday.
Missouri Defeats No. 19 Mississippi State
The Mizzou Softball team (17-13, 1-4 SEC) ended its six-game losing streak on Saturday with a 7-3 victory over No. 19 Mississippi State. The Tigers’ triumph over the Bulldogs marked their first top-25 ranked win this season. The Tiger offense produced 12 hits on Saturday, their most in a SEC game this season. Overall, Mizzou has now produced nine 10-plus hit games this year. Today’s effort at the plate marked the team’s most hits since Feb. 22 against BYU. The Tigers and Bulldogs will meet Sunday at noon CT with a series victory on the line.
Auburn Evens Series with Alabama
Auburn scored three runs on five hits to earn its first Southeastern Conference win of the season on Saturday with a sore of 3-1 against Alabama. Auburn held Alabama to just one hit over the first five innings before the Roll Tide was able to tally three in the remaining two innings. Makayla Martin earned the win in the circle for the Tigers and improved to 10-3 on the season. The series rubber match is set for a 1 p.m. CT start Sunday.
