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By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TALLAHASSEE, MAY 18, 2014 – USF's third consecutive NCAA tournament run ended in the championship round of the Tallahassee Regional with a 2-1 loss to No. 3 FSU on Sunday afternoon.
The Bulls (43-17) had the potential tying run on second base with no outs in the seventh inning before falling to FSU (53-6) in a tight game for the second straight day at Seminole Softball Complex. USF reached the championship round by defeating South Carolina twice after pulling out a 3-2 victory over the Gamecocks in the final at-bat on Saturday night.
“As far as what our team did today I can't ask for any more coming back after kind of being dead in the water last night at about 9:05,” head coach Ken Eriksen said.
USF's impressive group of seniors led the team all season and the veterans produced in Sunday's rematch with the Seminoles. Stephanie Medina (Tampa) hit a go-ahead single in the first inning, Kourtney Salvarola (Arnold, Md.) went 2-for-4 and All-American left-hander Sara Nevins showed her toughness by pitching all six innings. Ashli Goff (Tampa) scored on Medina's hit and twin sister Courtney Goff started the rally in the seventh inning with a bunt single.
“Obviously it stinks that for us it's over, but I wouldn't want to go out any other way than the way we did,” said Salvarola, USF's all-time home run leader. “I was really proud of Sara and the team.”
USF didn't cross the plate in 11 frames of a 2-0 loss to FSU on Saturday, but it took only one inning to score against Lacey Waldrop on Sunday in a nationally televised game on ESPN2.
Ashli Goff reached on a fielder's choice and advanced to second on a groundout by Salvarola before Medina rocketed a 2-2 pitch up the middle to give the Bulls the lead.
The Seminoles grabbed the advantage in the bottom half of the first with RBI singles by Kelly Hensley and Bailey Schinella.
“I thought Sara threw the ball well in the first inning, we had some bad luck. I don't think that Florida State put the barrel on the ball real well. It was I think three or four bloop balls in the first inning, but that's our game,” Eriksen said. “The line drive is overrated, it's what you're doing with situations and you've got to give credit to their hitters. Their hitters got the mid part of the bat on the ball and made things happen. It was unfortunate for us, but I'd rather have luck sometimes than skill work and so forth.”
Nevins, who pitched 19.2 innings the past two days, started to get into a groove near the end of the first inning and retired 14 consecutive batters to keep the score at 2-1 heading into the sixth.
USF nearly tied the game up in the third inning with a close play at the plate as the Bulls were applying the pressure on the base paths.
Kristen Wyckoff led off with a single a game after producing a walk-off hit in the Bulls' 3-2 comeback win over South Carolina. The freshman from Plant City, Fla., stole second and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by American Rookie of the Year Juli Weber (Hegins, Pa.) which set up the play at the plate. Ashli Goff hit a grounder to shortstop Maddie O'Brien and Wyckoff was called out at home while sliding headfirst around catcher Celeste Gomez.
“The one thing a regional like this shows is there is not a lot of difference between the top 32 teams in the country,” Eriksen said.
USF applied the pressure again in the top of the seventh inning and had the potential tying run on second with no outs. Courtney Goff (Tampa) legged out a bunt single and moved over to second on a fielding error by Victoria East at first base.
Waldrop (36-4) ended the threat by striking out two batters and getting Salvarola to ground out to third base. The Seminoles advanced to their second consecutive Super Regional despite being outhit, 7-3, by the Bulls.
The loss spoiled a gutsy performance for Nevins, who threw 464 pitches in the regional and did not allow a hit after the first inning on Sunday. Nevins (29-10) finished her career as the Bulls' all-time leader in numerous pitching categories including wins (101) and strikeouts (1,103). The Pinellas Park, Fla., native is one of only nine active Division I pitchers in the nation to reach the 100-win plateau.
“She did everything her teammates asked of her and she did everything for her teammates,” Eriksen said.
Nevins, Weber and Wyckoff were all named to the all-regional team for their efforts over the weekend. The complete all-regional team is listed below.
NCAA Tallahassee All-Regional Team
Lacey Waldrop (FSU) – MVP
Alex Kossoff (FSU)
Maddie O'Brien (FSU)
Sara Nevins (USF)
Juli Weber (USF)
Kristen Wyckoff (USF)
Ashlyn Masters (SC)
Kristen Struett (SC)
Elise Fortier (Fordham)
Cora Ianiro (Fordham)
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