The Terrific Ten has you covered on all the best highlights from all the action across college softball on Friday!
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1. LSU romps (or was it chomps?) Florida
Even with Florida in the midst of a “down” year and so-so at best in conference play, when the Gators traveled to Baton Rouge for a weekend series beginning on Friday, very few people probably predicted the ultimate outcome. LSU lit up the Gator pitching, knocking Elizabeth Hightower from the game and crushing both Hightower and reliever Haley Pittman. The Tigers collected seventeen hits in the game, outhit the Gators 17-2, and recorded a 9-1 run-rule victory.
The middle of the lineup came through for LSU, with multi-RBI days for both Taylor Pleasants and Georgia Clark. Pleasants was 2-4 on the day with a home run and three RBIs, while Clark was 3-4 with a home run and two RBIs of her own.
2. A Seminole sweep
Oklahoma State’s visit to Tallahassee was much-heralded, and in the 2-game series between the teams, it was the hosting Seminoles who came out ahead. Florida State won both games, including Friday’s miniseries finale, by matching 2-1 scores. Sydney Sherrill and Chloe Culp hit solo home runs for FSU, narrowly giving them the lead and the win over the visiting Cowgirls. Sydney Pennington added an RBI single for Oklahoma State before Culp’s sixth-inning longball gave the Seminoles a lead that they would not relinquish.
Emma Wilson threw two perfect innings as the starter in the circle before giving way to Kathryn Sandercock, who closed out the ballgame with five innings of work.
3. Tori Kniesche’s stellar day in the circle
South Dakota State pitcher Tori Kniesche has been on fire in the circle and turned in her latest stellar performance against St. Thomas on Friday. For the second-consecutive game, Kniesche tossed a no-hitter in the outing, collecting 20 strikeouts along the way. It was the third no-hitter of the season for the Jackrabbits’ sophomore and the fifth such performance of her career; she finished one second-inning walk shy of a perfect game. The only batter who recorded an out via something other than a strikeout was a fifth inning foulout to third base.
It was Kniesche’s fifth career no-no, but her first to go seven complete innings. She moved past the 200 strikeout mark this season, now standing at 206 punchouts on the year.
4. Hatti Moore wants more home runs
The softball must have looked more like a beach ball to Missouri backstop Hatti Moore on Friday. The Mizzou super-senior hit three home runs in a game – becoming just the second player in program history to accomplish the feat – and powering her team to a walk-off win over Texas A&M. Moore started the scoring in the third inning with a solo home run, then added a 3-run shot in the fourth inning.
After a tied game went to extra innings, Moore stepped to the plate with a runner on first base and two outs in the inning and proceeded to smack the first pitch over the center field wall for the walk-off win. Moore accounted for six of her team’s seven RBIs in the game, and the veteran backstop picked a perfect occasion for her first multi-hit game of the year.
5. She may be Wong, but she’s alright
Since being inserted into the lineup in mid-March following Terra McGowan’s injury, Oregon catcher Vallery Wong has proven her bat to be too valuable to ride the bench. Entering the year with just one home run in her career, Wong has now reached double-digits in the category this season after a multi-home run performance against Oregon State in Friday’s series opener.
In the second inning, Wong took the first pitch she saw over the fence, going deep off of Oregon State ace Mariah Mazon. In the fourth, Wong again stepped to the plate against Mazon, this time going down 0-2 before planting her second ball of the game over the wall. Wong finished with three RBIs in the game and was a perfect 2-2 in a game that was ultimately shortened due to weather.
