No. 5 Florida State’s talent disparity shows in 3-game sweep of Syracuse
For most of the first two days of Syracuse’s series with Florida State, the parents of the Seminoles, who had traveled north for the weekend, chanted “F-L-O-R-I-D-A S-T-A-T-E Florida State! Florida State! Florida State! Woooo!” in unison as each of its runners crossed home plate.
In Sunday’s first inning, the sounds of their cheers blared across the bleachers in Skytop Softball Stadium’s biggest crowd of the season. FSU scored so often, though, that they didn’t even bother to chant anymore.
The Orange knew they weren’t supposed to win this series — the players acknowledged it and head coach Shannon Doepking outright said it. Florida State is the defending national champion, and SU came into the series with nothing to lose.
The Seminoles have four pitchers with an ERA lower than SU ace Alexa Romero, and FSU’s top hitters are near the top in the nation in multiple statistical categories.
On Sunday, No. 5 Florida State (48-8, 19-5 Atlantic Coast) completed the three-game sweep, beating Syracuse (21-31, 8-16), 14-5. In each game, FSU applied pressure to the Orange, and in each day, the game failed to reach the seventh inning. It’s a vision of what Syracuse wants to be, but isn’t.
“I think they are fun to watch. Even when you watch their defense,” Doepking said. “That’s what great teams do. Their pitchers put the ball on the ground and they make plays for them. This program needs to be able to do those little things to play with those teams.”
In game one, the Orange made countless errors defensively and didn’t compete at the plate. Doepking said her team didn’t show any fight against Meghan King, except for Bryce Holmgren. FSU sped them up, and the Orange made mistakes on plays they practice often like rundowns and throwing balls around the infield.
Syracuse entered the fifth inning Saturday down just 2-1, and there was a sign of belief in dugout cheers. But on Sunday, FSU’s six-run outburst in the first inning left the SU dugout silent. Miranda Hearn was pulled from the game before recording three outs.
The Orange had finally competed at the plate, unlike the first two matchups. They managed five runs and eight hits, most coming against King, the same pitcher that stifled them two days prior. The damage had been done though — Florida State scored nine runs in the first two innings alone.
The pitchers couldn’t keep the ball in the park, Doepking said. Both Hearn and Sophie Dandola allowed home runs that cleared well past the fences at Skytop. And when the ball was in the field, the Orange made too many mistakes that allowed free bases, sophomore Gabby Teran said.
“We’ve been in tough spots all year where we’ve been down,” Teran said. “We just have to keep fighting back and make something happen.”
On the field, Doepking focuses on aggressive hitting and swinging early in counts before opposing pitchers can get to their “junk” pitches. Doepking wants the Orange to be aggressive on the basepaths, yet SU’s Logan Paul was thrown out at home on a groundout on Saturday.
When Teran smashed an inside pitch down the third base line in the fifth inning, FSU’s Sydney Sherrill reached down and made the play without flinching. She corralled the ball with her glove and fired it to second base, getting an out on a fielder’s choice.
While balls were booting off SU defenders’ gloves, flying over their heads for home runs and bouncing past them, Florida State’s cohesiveness in the field proved why the Seminoles are a top-five team in the nation.
When FSU’s Cali Harrod got to first, one fan shouted, “Hey catcher, she’s running!” The Orange knew it was coming, but they couldn’t stop it. FSU stole seven bases this weekend, only once running into an out on the basepaths.
Sunday, with the Orange trailing 11-4, FSU’s Dani Morgan singled to left field. Elizabeth Mason, a runner on second, stopped at third, but Morgan made an intelligent move to intentionally get into a rundown between first and second. Morgan was eventually tagged out, but Mason scored from third during the chase-and-tag.
“They are going to do everything well and they are going to take advantage of our mistakes,” Teran said. “We miss a throw, they’ll take extra bases. Obviously anyone would want to be a team like that.”
Doepking said she wants her team to hit more home runs and fewer singles. FSU hit eight home runs over the weekend, Syracuse hit none. For three days in May, Florida State did everything to prove why it’s one of the best programs in the nation and a perennial title contender. Syracuse wasn’t ready for the moment. Doepking said it was too big for them.
“(We’re) nowhere close,” Doepking said on Saturday. “They’re really good. I mean, we knew that. It’s kind of fun to watch what they do because they do a lot of the little things really, really well.”