No. 4 ‘Noles walk off No. 7 Oklahoma State

The Florida State Seminoles set up for their second Thursday Throwdown on ESPN, this time with the Cowgirls of Oklahoma State. In the circle it was Danielle Watson for the Seminoles, against Kelly Maxwell for the Cowgirls.

Watson and Maxwell both delt scoreless frames heading into the 3rd inning. Watson got the lead off to ground out, but gave up a walk to the second batter. A fielder’s choice erased the walk, put another out on the board, and kept a runner on the basepaths. Two back to back singles allowed a run to score, giving the Cowgirls the 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the 4th, Kaley Mudge led off with the infield single, breaking up Maxwell’s perfect game. She was followed by the walk to Sydney Sherrill, and both runners advanced on a wild pitch. Kalei Harding put up a lengthy at bat against Maxwell, but was recorded as the first out with the strikeout. Two runners in scoring position and an out on the board brought up Mack Leonard. On the second pitch, Leonard found an empty spot in the outfield that allowed Mudge to score. The Cowgirls got the fly out and strikeout to end the inning with a 1-1 tie.

The game remained tied going into the 7th inning. Back on for the top of the inning, Watson sat down the Cowgirls in order, with the help of her defense. Maxwell worked her own 1-2-3 7th and the top 10 matchup went into extra innings.

After 104 pitches and 7 innings, Watson was pulled for Mack Leonard to start the 8th inning. The ‘Noles put up another shutdown inning, keeping runners off the basepaths.

Maxwell and Leonard battled in extras, and the ‘Noles defense continued to show why they are one of the best.

Maxwell went back in the circle in the bottom of the 9th, facing the top of the ‘Noles lineup. Sherrill reached on the one out walk, and the ‘Noles put two on base after Kalei Harding singled. With Leonard at the plate, she hit a ball to the shortstop who flipped to the second baseman. The ball was mishandled and everyone was safe, loading the bases for Devyn Flaherty. Just like the batter before her, Flaherty poked a single to the shortstop, who tried to go home to get Sherrill out at the plate. The throw was wide right and Sherrill slid home safely to secure the 2-1 walk off win over the Cowgirls.

Game Comparison

LOB: FSU- 2 OSU- 7

Runners on 3rd, less than 2 outs: FSU- .250 OSU- .000

Advancement opportunities: FSU- .500 OSU- .214

Pitching vs. LH: FSU- 3-14 OSU- 3-18

Overall hitting: FSU- .133 OSU- .161

Box score

Up next

The ‘Noles and Cowgirls will close out the matchup Friday at 6 p.m. and will be aired on ESPNU.