TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Third-ranked and No. 8-seeded Florida State (54-7) used four home runs to blast their way into the winner-take-all game of the NCAA Tallahassee Super Regional with a 6-0 win against No. 13 Michigan (47-14) at JoAnne Graf Field on Friday.
"This family never quits," head coach Lonni Alameda said. "We know that one pitch, one play can change the game and we didn't get down after they kept us off the scoreboard for the first four innings. I love the fight of this team and look to carry this momentum into Game 3."
Both teams had scoring chances in the first, as the Seminoles and Wolverines each placed two runners on in the opening frame but were unable to score a run.
Starters Lacey Waldrop for Florida State and Megan Betsa of Michigan settled in to toss scoreless innings until the fifth inning.
U-M's Betsa (18-4) retired 11 in a row after allowing a base hit to Courtney Senas in the first. The Seminoles were finally able to get to the Michigan pitcher in the fifth as Bailey Schinella led off the inning with a walk and was pinch run for by Bella D'Errico. She would come into score on a towering home run later in the inning by Celeste Gomez.
That sparked a five-inning for the Seminoles as Maddie O'Brien added a two-run home run and Senas blasted a solo shot of her own. It marked the first time since April 9, 2006, that Florida State had hit three home runs in an inning.
Victoria East crushed a solo home run in the sixth inning to push FSU's lead out to 6-0.
Waldrop (37-5) was superb in the circle tossing a complete-game shutout, her sixth of the season. She allowed just five hits without a walk and two strikeouts.
