OKLAHOMA CITY — For the second consecutive night here at the Women’s College World Series, the Florida State softball team raced out to a monster lead against a heavy favorite.
And for the second consecutive night, the Seminoles had to withstand a furious rally to complete the upset.
They were successful once again.
Now, after knocking off the No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners, 8-4, before a very partisan crowd of more than 12,000, head coach Lonni Alameda’s team needs just one more win to claim the Seminoles’ second national championship in the last three NCAA Tournaments.
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They have traveled an extremely hard road to get here.
On Monday night, the Seminoles led No. 3 Alabama by eight runs before holding on for an 8-5 victory. On Tuesday, they led the Sooners 7-0 before the nation’s top offensive lineup began to chip away.
Alabama sported a 20-game win streak before falling to the ‘Noles. Oklahoma’s record was a sparkling 54-3 before Tuesday night.
Junior pitcher Danielle Watson got the start and delivered a very strong effort, limiting the powerful Sooners to four runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings. Kathryn Sandercock pitched the final 1 1/3.
Florida State got a huge night from freshman right fielder Kalei Harding, who went 3-for-4 at the plate with a home run and 4 RBIs; Harding also made a brilliant defensive play to cut down a runner at third base.
The freshman put the Seminoles on the scoreboard with a two-run bomb in the top of the third inning. Then she gave FSU a 4-0 lead by lacing a two-run double one inning later.
The Seminoles would tack on three more runs that inning on a two-run single by Sydney Sherrill and an RBI single by Elizabeth Mason.
FSU and Oklahoma will play Game 2 of the championship series Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.
Stay connected with Warchant.com for complete postgame coverage.
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