In light of Florida State’s great start (11-0) to the 2019 season and the 5-0 record of pitcher Meghan King, we’re going to do a Throwback Thursday to our post from last summer after FSU won the National Championship.
Executive Editor Brentt Eads looks back on his experiences with Meghan King during her pre-college days and highlights some of the interactions and coverage that he had with the future Florida State WCWS pitching hero…
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Originally published June 6, 2018 on Extra Inning Softball…
That smile.
Four years later, after covering Meghan King extensively during her 2013-14 senior season at St. Thomas Aquinas in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and then the summer before she entered Florida State as she played with Marty Cooper’s Gold Coast Hurricanes, I can still remember that million-watt smile.
And it was on display seemingly every time the ESPN cameras did a close-up on the Seminole junior pitcher, who was lights out in the circle this week at the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City even though the pressure was unbelievable as Florida State had to survive six elimination games after losing its first game.
Pitching a 1-0 masterpiece in Game 1 of the Championship Series against Washington on Monday, King and the Seminoles fell behind 3-0 in the top of the 1st Tuesday night but King kept on smiling and laughing, even throwing a playful punch to the gut at one point to one of her infielders.
“Of course we would go down three runs,” King told Graham Hays of ESPN. “The fact that everyone just kept fighting and laughed it off was really awesome.
And in the end, after taking a comebacker from Husky leadoff batter Taylor Van Zee and firing to first, Meghan had done it: closed out the two-game sweep giving not only FSU its first WCWS title, but the first for the ACC.
And she did it in record-setting fashion: in 34 1/3rd innings in the tournament, the Seminole pitcher gave up just one earned run meaning her 0.20 ERA was the lowest in WCWS history.
Her fantastic finish to the 2018 season gave Florida State a final record of 58-12 record and, as the 6th seed, a title few thought possible less than a week ago as the Noles were only the third team in the 37-year history of the World Series to lose the opening game of the tournament and come back to win it all.
But it’s not the first time, King has ended a season in championship form (with the ever-present smile!)…
Back in 2014, she capped an amazing prep career by leading Aquinas to a second straight 7A title in dramatic fashion.
Here’s the story I ran on May 12, 2014 StudentSportsSoftball, where I was at that time and you’ll notice some familiar names who would go on to great college careers along with King: her battermate and great friend, Gwen Svekis, who she faced Saturday in a 2-0 win (and got to socialize with Friday for the Duck catcher’s 22nd birthday) and Lele Ocasio, who would go on to have a great career at Florida which included winning a National Championship her freshman year.
King leads Raiders to Repeat 7A Title
Meghan King finished up a two-year tour de force at the Florida state softball tournament Final Four in Vero Beach by leading the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders to their second consecutive 7A state championship.
King, a senior left-hander who has signed with Maryland, finished her high school career with a 1-0 victory over Harmony, against whom, after allowing a leadoff single to Lily Mann, she retired 21 consecutive batters, striking out 12.