FSU softball: Watson pitches a no-hitter against Howard, Culp walks it off for the No. 2 ‘Noles

In the first game of the softball regionals, Florida State Seminole Danielle Watson started out set up against Analise De La Rocas for Howard.

Watson began strong by working a scoreless first frame, where she sat down all three batters she faced. Flipping the offense to the Seminoles, Kaley Mudge doubled into shallow left field. A one out walk to Kalei Harding put runners on for Mack Leonard, who drew herself a walk to load the bases. De La Rocas gave up her third walk of the inning to Jahni Kerr with two outs. Since the bases were loaded, it drew Mudge home and the ‘Noles were up 1-0.

Behind dominance in the circle and stellar defense, the ‘Noles kept the Bison off the board, and the basepaths while holding on to the one run lead.

In the bottom of the 4th, Devyn Flaherty led off being hit by the pitch. Once on base, Flaherty stole second and third to put herself into scoring position. The single by Kerr brought her in giving FSU a 2-0 lead.

Once on base, Kerr followed Flaherty and secured a stolen base for herself, and was able to take third on a wild pitch. Edenfield drew another walk for the ‘Noles as she was pinch ran for by D’Aun Riggs. Two sacrifices brought in two runs for the home team and De La Roca secured the final out of the inning, now down 4-0.

After keeping the Bison off the board yet again, the ‘Noles offense went back to work in the bottom of the 5th. Two back to back walks from Sherrill and Harding put runners on with no outs for Leonard. On the 2-0 count, Leonard doubled to bring in a run.

A one out sacrifice fly from Kerr brought the pinch runner in Autumn Belviy home, pushing the score to 6-0. The single from Edenfield tacked on another as the ‘Noles were one run away from ending it early. Culp faced De La Roca with two outs and drove a single through the left side that scored Edenfield. The run allowed the ‘Noles to walk off the Bison and secure a no hitter for Danielle Watson in the circle. The 8-0 win ended day one of the regional.

Box score

Up Next

FSU will face USF in a winners bracket game on Saturday at 1 p.m. on ESPN2