’Noles rally to earn WCWS bid
TALLAHASSEE — Coach Lonni Alameda and the Florida State softball team are headed back to the Women’s College World Series.
Senior Jessie Warren continued her tear on school and NCAA record books, junior Carsyn Gordon and sophomore Anna Shelnutt provided more late-game heroics and FSU beat LSU twice on Saturday night to reach its third WCWS in five years.
With Subtropical Storm Alberto threatening the area, FSU and LSU played two games on Saturday at JoAnne Graf Field after the Tigers won Game 1 Friday night.
Gordon and Shelnutt hit home runs in the 11th inning to help FSU beat LSU 8-5 in Game 2 to tie the series, and Warren’s two-run home run sparked a 3-1 win in Game 3 early Sunday morning as the Seminoles avenged last season’s super regional defeat to the Tigers.
Florida State will begin its pursuit for its first NCAA national championship on Thursday as the sixth seed against No. 3 UCLA in Oklahoma City. Oregon, Florida, Oklahoma, Washington, Georgia and Arizona State round out the eight-team field.
“It was just an amazing feeling in the dugout,” said Alameda, who has helped FSU win five consecutive ACC championships and six in her 10 seasons at the school.
“It was like we were not going to let go. We’re going to fight every single pitch.”
Alameda said it was Warren, who set the tone for the Seminoles throughout the series.
Warren, a senior who is FSU’s and the ACC’s career leader with 81 home runs, hit a homer during each of the Super Regional games.
But it was Warren’s mature and encouraging demeanor and her lighthearted nature — highlighted by her playful lip-syncing of Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” with teammates between innings — that truly sparked the Seminoles.
“I knew it was going to be my last time playing here, so it meant a lot to just go out with a bang,” Warren said as her beaming smile quickly turned into tears in her eyes.
“I’m literally speechless and have no words right now for the feeling that I have right now, to be able to go back and end my career in Oklahoma City.”
Warren started a threerun inning with her home run to left field and Shelnutt added a sacrifice fly for the Seminoles in the final game.
FSU pitcher Kylee Hanson rebounded from her Game 1 loss, a 6-5 defeat on Friday night, to give up only five hits and a run with four strikeouts to win the series.
The Seminoles’ emotions peaked in the second game after Gordon hit a solo home run and Shelnutt added a two-run home run two batters later in the top of the 11th inning to help Florida State stay alive.
FSU had a four-run lead, also sparked by a Warren home run, before LSU third baseman Shemiah Sanchez hit a grand slam to tie the game at 5 in the fifth inning.
Seminoles Meghan King and LSU’s Casey Hoover each pitched five straight scoreless innings before FSU broke the game open late.
“It was one pitch, and it was going to take one pitch to come back. Carsyn had that one pitch, and we just kept rolling after that,” Warren said of the second game and the momentum it gave the Seminoles.
“... We’re always fighting.”