Isa Torres hit two home runs, and the No. 13 Florida State softball team used great pitching and defense to defeat No. 8 Florida 3-1 in front of 1,738 fans at JoAnne Graf Field on Wednesday night.
FSU (40-7) has now won eight out the last nine meetings against the Gators.
After Florida’s Taylor Shumaker took the second pitch of the game over the right field wall, Jazzy Francik began to settle in and shut down the Gators’ offense. Francik got out of some key moments as the Gators got two runners on in the first, one in the second and loaded the bases with one out in the third. In the third, Francik got the groundball she needed to turn two to keep the Gators (43-7) off the board.
Ashtyn Danley (9-1) came into the game in the fourth and was outstanding as the junior pitched four scoreless innings and allowed just two hits.
After the Gators got their run in the first, Torres responded right away as she took a 3-2 pitch deep over the center field wall to get the raucous crowd back in the game. After a scoreless third inning, Torres homered again to give the Noles the 2-1 lead.
The Seminoles applied more pressure in the fourth as Kennedy Harp singled and Marin Heller walked to get the inning started. Shelby McKenzie came through with a single through the right side to score Harp to put another run on the board for the Seminoles.
Danley got out of jams in the fourth and fifth innings but retired the final six batters she faced to give the Seminoles a top-10 win.
“It's huge. You guys know we want to host here,” FSU coach Lonni Alameda said about the RPI bump from the home-and-home series against Florida. “We would love a top-8 seed every year. That's what you're going for. Softball is getting good. It's getting good across the country.
“We also know in the past we've worked really hard and we got someone good here. The mindset this year is we're not going to worry about it too much.”
Up next
The Seminoles will be back in action this weekend at Georgia Tech.
Game one of the three-game series is 6 p.m. on Friday on ACCNX.
