Michaela Edenfield, Hallie Wacaser and Bethaney Keen homered to lead No. 3 Florida State to a 5-1 win over No. 4 Tennessee in the Women’s College World Series on Monday, allowing the Seminoles to book a berth in the championship round.
Florida State (58-9) will oppose top-seeded and two-time defending champion Oklahoma (59-1) in the best-of-three title series. Game 1 is scheduled for Wednesday. The Sooners downed No. 9 Stanford 4-2 in nine innings earlier on Monday to advance.
Both the Seminoles and the Sooners went undefeated in group play. Had either of them lost on Monday, they would have received a rematch later in the day to determine who clinched a spot in the final round.
Keen and Jahni Kerr each had two hits for Florida State, which utilized three pitchers against the Lady Volunteers. Mack Leonard allowed one run on one hit — a first-inning homer by Zaida Puni — before Makenna Reid (13-0) threw two scoreless innings. Kathryn Sandercock then delivered three shutout innings for her 10th save.
The Seminoles pitchers worked around three hits and four walks while striking out six.
Tennessee starter Payton Gottshall (16-2) yielded two runs on five hits in 3 1/3 innings.
After Puni put the Lady Vols up 1-0, Edenfield tied the game with a solo shot in the second inning. Keen’s leadoff home run in the third put Florida State on top for good.
Kerr added an RBI single in the fifth, and Wacaser blasted a two-run homer in the sixth.
–Field Level Media