Avoiding elimination
Florida State knocked off top-seeded Oregon 4-1 in a Women’s College World Series elimination game Saturday night. The Seminoles will need to beat UCLA twice today to advance to the championship series.
FLORIDA STATE 4, OREGON 1
OKLAHOMA CITY — Kayla Hanson gave up just one run, and Florida State knocked off top-seeded Oregon 4-1 in a Women’s College World Series elimination game Saturday night.
Meghan King entered the game for Florida State with one out and two on in the seventh inning and retired both batters she faced for the save. She got the victory earlier in the day in a 7-2 victory over Georgia in another elimination game.
Florida State (54-12) will need to beat UCLA twice today to advance to the championship series.
Miranda Elish got the loss for Oregon (53-10) after entering with a 37-1 career record.
Florida State opened the scoring when Elizabeth Mason doubled to score Cali Harrod in the third. The Seminoles added another run in the fifth when Mason singled to score Harrod again.
In the sixth, Florida State’s Zoe Casas sent one deep to right field. Oregon’s Haley Cruse got her glove up to prevent a home run, but Deja Bush scored on the single to put Florida State up 3-0.
Oregon finally scored in the sixth when Haley Cruse doubled to drive in Shannon Rhodes. Sydney Sherrill’s home run in the seventh provided insurance for Florida State.
Paige Parker threw a two-hitter for her second shutout of the day, and Oklahoma remained alive in its quest for a third consecutive national title with a victory over Florida.
It was an elimination game between programs that have combined to win the past five championships and played for the title last year.
Parker threw 104 pitches and struck out eight to pick up her 10th career WCWS victory. In the 2-0 victory over Arizona State earlier in the day, Parker gave up two hits and struck out seven.
The Sooners (57-4) will need to beat Washington twice today to reach the championship series.
Oklahoma’s Jocelyn Alo hit a monster home run into the wind in the first inning to put the Sooners up 1-0. It was her 30th home run of the season, tying the Division I single-season freshman record most recently set by Oklahoma’s Lauren Chamberlain in 2012.
Oklahoma loaded the bases in the fifth inning with two outs. Florida walked Alo to bring up Shay Knighten. Thought Knighten struck out, the pitch got away from the catcher and allowed Caleigh Clifton to score and make it 2-0.
Florida (56-11) started Kelly Barnhill, but Coach Tim Walton pulled the All American after just two innings. Aleshia Ocasio stepped in and was solid, but she got no support from the offense.
Zoe Casas had two hits and knocked in three runs, and Florida State defeated Georgia to stay alive.
Meghan King gave up just five hits in a complete game for the Seminoles.
Florida State (53-12) played Oregon in an elimination game Saturday night.
Casas hit an RBI double in the second inning and a single that knocked in two in the fourth to help the Seminoles jump out to a 4-0 lead.
Georgia (48-13) bounced back in the fifth when Justice Milz tripled to score two, but Florida State tacked on two more when Dani Morgan singled in the bottom of the inning.
Georgia scraped its way into the World Series despite losing ace pitcher Brittany Gray to a right biceps injury for the last half of the season. She led the nation with a 0.48 earned run average and had a 16-1 record before having surgery.
Things returned to normal for Paige Parker on Saturday morning.
Parker entered the week with a career 8-0 World Series record, but she lost to Washington on Thursday despite giving up just one run.
Against Arizona State, she threw 78 pitches and struck out seven in a complete game.
“Today was just going out there giving my team a chance to win,” Parker said. “Defense was fantastic today. The last couple of innings I knew I needed to step it up a notch and really go into shutdown mode and try to be efficient today and go after hitters and stay ahead in counts.”
The Sooners have won three of the past five national titles while Florida has won the other two. Oklahoma is trying to join UCLA as the only programs to win three consecutive national titles.
Jocelyn Alo’s home run in the third, her nation-leading 29th of the season, gave Oklahoma a 1-0 lead.
“At the end of the day, I’ve got to tip my hat,” Arizona State pitcher Giselle “G” Juarez said. “She did her job on my mistake.”
Lea Wodach’s RBI single in the sixth put the Sooners up 2-0.
“We were just trying to get another run,” Wodach said.
“I know having one run is just always uneasy. You just never think any amount of runs is enough. So I was just trying to go up there and find a way to squeak the ball through, literally squeak it through.”
Juarez lost despite giving up just 1 run and 4 hits in 4 innings. Danielle Gibson and DeNae Chatman were the only Sun Devils with hits.
It was a disappointing end for Arizona State (48-13), which reached the World Series for the first time since 2013.
“You will see us here again,” Juarez said.
“We’re a really gritty team, and we’re excited because we see where we’re going.”