5 Things You May Have Missed in College Softball Saturday
Conference play for the DI College Softball teams will be wrapping up this weekend and next. Until then, the teams will continue to compete and battle for the top spots in their conference. Below are five things that stood out to us at FPN, that you may have missed from Saturday.
FSU’s Kylee Hanson Tosses No-Hitter
Redshirt senior Kylee Hanson continued her impressive season for the Seminoles, by tossing a complete-game no-hitter on Saturday at Dail Stadium. The 5-0 win gave No. 9 Florida State (43-10, 20-3 ACC) the series over NC State (23-30, 5-17 ACC). Hanson scattered three walks and recorded seven strikeouts in the win to improve to 25-4 on the season. It is Hanson’s fourth career no-hitter, as the All-American pitcher had three previous no-hitters at Florida Atlantic. It marks the fifth year in a row that the Seminoles have won 20 conference games in a season and Florida State is the only school in league history to win 20 ACC games in a single year, holding the ACC record of 24 wins in 2014 and 2017. The Seminoles and Wolfpack will conclude their series on Sunday, May 6 with a game at 12:00 p.m.
Bruins Win Sixth Pac-12 Series in a Row
Senior Madeline Jelenicki drove in both UCLA runs, including the game-winner in the seventh, while redshirt sophomore Rachel Garcia struck out 12, as the top-ranked Bruins defeated California by a score of 2-1 on Saturday at Levine-Fricke Field. The Bruins improved to 47-3 overall and 17-3 in Pac-12 play, running their winning streak to 13 games, while the Golden Bears fell to 34-15 and 7-12 in league. Garcia moved to 18-1 on the season and has struck out 30 in her last 14 innings, giving up one unearned run, four hits and no walks in seven innings. Offensively, four Bruins combined for six hits, as Garcia and Jelenicki each posted two-hit contests. Game three of the series between UCLA and Cal will take place on Sunday at 2 p.m.
https://twitter.com/Pac12Network/status/992890572590403584
Gators Clinch Seventh SEC Series
The fifth-ranked Florida (46-8, 19-4 SEC) softball team clinched its seventh Southeastern Conference series with a 5-0 shutout victory over Missouri Saturday afternoon. Aleshia Ocasio (17-6) hurled her sixth shutout of the season and struck out 10 Tigers (28-26, 6-16 SEC) in the complete-game effort from the circle. It’s the third time this season where the senior tallied 10 or more strikeouts in a game. Amanda Lorenz finished the day 2-for-4 at the plate for her 18th multi-hit game of the season. The Gators and Tigers return to the diamond for the series finale on Sunday. First pitch is slated for 2 p.m. CT.
Michigan Crowned Big Ten Regular Season Champs
The No. 11 Michigan softball team earned the outright Big Ten Conference Championship, its 10th in 11 seasons and the 20th in program history, following an 8-0 win in five innings over visiting Ohio State on Saturday afternoon. With the victory, the Wolverines also clinched the No. 1 seed for next week’s Big Ten Tournament. Michigan moves to 18-2 in Big Ten action this year and 43-9 overall, having won 37 of its last 40 games. Faith Canfield and Haley Hoogenraad each drove in three runs in Michigan’s title-clinching win on Saturday. Freshman Meghan Beaubien was the winner in the circle, allowing one hit and one walk with five strikeouts in five innings to move to 32-3 this season. The Wolverines close out the regular season at 6 p.m. (ET) Sunday with the finale of their three-game series at home against Ohio State.
BACK ON TOP. #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/D4Cs83CylK
— Michigan Softball (@umichsoftball) May 5, 2018
Rebels Win Series Over Georgia
Brittany Finney doubled in the first inning to give Ole Miss a 1-0 lead and that was all the help senior pitcher Kaitlin Lee would need in a dominating performance from in the circle. Ole Miss tacked on another four runs later in the game to defeat No. 6 Georgia 5-0 Saturday afternoon at the Ole Miss Softball Complex. The win clinched the series for the Rebels (30-21, 7-16 SEC), the first SEC series victory of the season for Ole Miss. It is also the first conference series defeat of the year for the Bulldogs (42-10, 15-8 SEC). Lee tossed her fourth complete-game shutout of the season and 13th of her career, assuming sole possession of third place in the Rebel record book. Lee held the dangerous Georgia offense to just five hits, striking out a pair to improve to 16-10 on the year. The final game of the series between the Rebels and Bulldogs will take place on Sunday at 1 p.m.
