Fresh off a dominant double-championship run, the surging Seminoles get ready to defend JoAnne Graf Field against a hungry three-team field.
No.9 Florida State Softball (49-8) will host Stetson University, University of Central Florida and Jacksonville State in the Tallahassee Regional Friday, May 15 at JoAnne Graf Field.
The chance to host a NCAA Regional came after the Noles won the ACC Regular Season Championship, and followed with a ACC Tournament Championship. The garnet and gold was dominant throughout the season going on a 25 game win streak, and losing only one ACC series all season. No other program has won more conference championships than Florida State who now has 20, not including 19 regular season titles.
This will be the first time this season Florida State plays any of the teams in its bracket, but the garnet and gold are 17-1 against Stetson, 6-2 against Jacksonville State, and 26-5 against UCF all-time.
UCF (38-16-1) is headed to its sixth straight NCAA tournament after finishing fourth in the BIG XII this season. As a team the Knights are batting .325 with 67 home runs.
On the mound they are led by Isabella Vega who is 17-8 with five saves. Her ERA this season is 2.89. At the plate Sierra Humphreys is batting .390 with 13 home runs, while Beth Damon is batting .333 with 15 home runs.
Stetson (36-20) bounced back from finishing No. 2 in the regular conference standings to win its sixth ASUN Conference Tournament Championship.
The Hatters are led by Nicole Edmiaston who’s batting .465 with 22 home runs. She’s her team's version of Isa Torres as she was named ASUN Player of the Year and ASUN Offensive Player of the Year. On the mound Ava Braswell is 19-10 with a 3.03 ERA. She’s thrown nine complete games this season.
Jacksonville State was 45-14 on the season and like FSU won both its regular season title and their Conference Championship.
Emma Elrod was named Conference USA Player of the Year while batting .342 on the season. Morgan Nowakowski is batting .358 and leading the team with 24 doubles. The Gamecocks rely heavily on freshman Makenna Moore. Moore, who was named Conference USA Pitcher of the Year and Freshman of the Year, The freshman is 16-2 with a 2.52 ERA. Moore has pitched 11 complete games this year.
Florida State’s first game is Friday, May 15 against Stetson. First pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m. ET. at the Seminole Softball Complex.
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