Lacey Waldrop earned the 108th win of her career, passing Leslie Malerich for the FSU all-time career record.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Opening the game with a pair of seven-run innings, No. 9 Florida State (42-12) cruised to a 15-1 win in five innings at North Florida (30-26) on Sunday. The 15 runs scored marked a season high and eight different Seminoles posted a base hit while nine players scored at least one run in the game.
Senior pitcher Lacey Waldrop earned the victory in relief for the 108th win of her career, passing Leslie Malerich (1999-2002) for the FSU all-time career record.
“This was a great confidence-building game as we head into the ACC tournament,” FSU head coach Lonni Alameda said. “Our hitters were aggressive at the plate and we were able to get a lot of our bench players extra game experience, which will be key in the postseason.
“I’m so proud of Lacey, not only for today, but for her entire career. She works tirelessly to be a great teammate and a smart competitor. Setting pitching records at Florida State can be very difficult with its long history of quality pitchers, but it just speaks volumes to her passion to be the best she can be.”
Florida State exploded out to a 7-0 lead in the top of the first inning as 11 Seminoles came to the plate. Jessica Warren and Ellie Cooper each hit RBI doubles in the inning while Maddie O’Brien and Alex Kossoff posted RBI singles.
Victoria Daddis added an RBI groundout and Morgan Klaevemann extended her FSU-record hit streak to 20 games with a single up the middle that scored two runs on an error by the UNF catcher. It marked the 19th time that Florida State has scored in the first inning this season; the Seminoles are 19-0 in those games.
The Seminoles matched that offensive output in the second inning, plating another seven runs in the frame. All seven runs came with two outs in the inning. Kossoff added her second RBI single of the game and Rylan Harvey hit a pinch-hit two-RBI double off the top of the wall in left. Klaevemann drove in a run on a single to left field and O’Brien capped the scoring with a three-run home run to right field to make it 14-0 Florida State after two innings.
FSU starter Jessica Burroughs tossed the first two innings for the Seminoles and allowed only one hit -- a double in the first inning. She recorded three strikeouts in the second inning, marking the 21st time this season that she’s posted three strikeouts in an inning.
O’Brien added a solo home run in the fourth inning for her first multi-home run game of the season and the sixth of her career. She finished 3-for-4 from the plate with a season-high five runs batted in.
Waldrop (27-6) pitched the next 2.2 innings, allowing just one run and one hit with two strikeouts to earn the win. In addition to becoming the FSU wins leader, she now moves into sole possession of third place on the ACC career wins list.
“It feels amazing to get in the record books and it is just a testament to how great of a program we’ve had these last four years with how many wins we’ve gotten as a team,” Waldrop said. “I feel like Coach trusts me in the circle to put me out there and I’m really thankful for that. My teammates play great defense behind me and we’ve really competed these last four years, grown up as team together and it is really cool to have my name in the record books.”
Korina Rosario closed out the game in the circle by inducing a lineout to Warren in the fifth. The Seminoles emptied the bench in the fourth and fifth innings, bringing in Bella D’Errico to play left field, Lauren Harris in center, Katie Baker at second base, Victoria East at first base and Daddis at catcher.
Kaylie Wallace (13-11) took the loss for the Ospreys, giving up seven runs, three earned, on five hits in one inning. Geneva Santos pitched the first two outs of the second inning and allowed seven runs on four hits. Kayla Goff finished the game for UNF and tossed 3.1 innings with five hits with one run and two strikeouts.
