College: St. Pete/Clearwater Elite Invitational Friday Recap

Florida rolled out its famous Chamber of Commerce weather for ESPN’s first hosted softball tournament, and Saturday dawned to sold out crowds at the Eddie C. Moore Softball Complex in Clearwater, Florida.

NCAA softball fans turned out in droves, prompting tournament officials to email out an advisory Friday that no more tickets would be sold for Saturday’s games and online sales were encouraged for Sunday.

Spectacular softball was the feature for the weekend with high-level matchups to ensure for the rest of Saturday and Sunday. Many, but not all, of the games air on ESPN’s network of channels.

LSU split day two, allowing their first loss of the season to Oregon, 8-5, while picking up a win against Mike White’s Texas, 7-1. Michaela Schlattman led the Tigers offensively on Friday, hitting .600 for the day. Amanda Sanchez, Shemiah Sanchez, and Shelbi Sunseri all hit home runs with RBI each.

Florida State picked up a big win over Oklahoma, leaving no doubt about their offensive capabilities with home runs by five different players, scoring the most home runs allowed by an Oklahoma team since 2004.

Dani Morgan, Cassidy Davis, Elizabeth Mason, Anna Shelnutt, and Carsyn Gordon each produced home runs, with Mason and Shelnutt firing them back-to-back.

Davis and Kathryn Sandercock were each in the circle for the game, with Sandercock going the distance.

In the earlier game, Meagan King threw four perfect innings against Ohio State, picking up 9 Ks in 12 batters. Anna Shelnutt fired up the offense with a solo homer in the fourth. Leslie Farris hit the first homerun of her season and third of her career to push the score to 3-1. Today, the reigning WCWS Champs face LSU and Minnesota.

The Oregon Ducks are facing a season without a number of players from last year and with a new head coach at the helm. Melissa Lombardi’s Ducks came to play and upset LSU, holding the Tigers to only 5 runs.

The upset win brings hope to the Duck faithful, who saw several veteran players choose to transfer or defer playing this season under Lombardi’s coaching. The new players and remaining roster didn’t disappoint, and the season’s strong start shows the promise of a bright future for the Ducks.

Key matchups from Clearwater today include the FSU-LSU showdown at 1 p.m., Oregon takes on Kentucky have a 4 p.m. game, and Cal faces off against the Irish of Notre Dame at 7 p.m.

Friday Results

• Kentucky 8, Hofstra 0
• Florida State 3 Ohio State 1
• Oklahoma 4, FAU 0
• Tennessee 8, Notre Dame 0
• Texas 5, FAU 1
• Cal 7 James Madison 2
• Oregon 8, LSU 5
• FSU 7, Oklahoma 4
• Notre Dame 6, Oklahoma State 0
• Kentucky 13, Utah 2
• Tennessee 4, Minnesota 2
• LSU 7, Texas 1
• OSU 8, Utah 1
• James Madison 9, Oregon 1

Thursday Results

• LSU 3, Oklahoma State 1
• Texas 10, Cal 0 in 5 innings
• Oklahoma 9, Kentucky 1 in 6 innings
• Oklahoma 6, Notre Dame 2