Florida State Rallies Past South Alabama 7-6 in Eight Innings, Ends Jaguars’ First Hosted Regional
Florida State erased a five-run deficit to beat South Alabama 7-6 in eight innings in the NCAA regional final at Jaguar Field, while Jaguar baseball earned the No. 2 seed for the Sun Belt Tournament.
MOBILE, Ala. — Florida State rallied from a five-run deficit in the seventh inning and won 7-6 in eight innings Sunday night at Jaguar Field, ending South Alabama’s softball season in the final of the first NCAA regional the school has hosted.
The Seminoles advance to a super regional in Austin, Texas. South Alabama finished the season 48-9, and eight of its nine losses came by one run.
South Alabama Forces Deciding Game
Facing elimination in Sunday’s first game, South Alabama shut out Florida State 3-0 behind the pitching of Farish Beard to force a winner-take-all rematch.
Beard carried a five-run lead into the top of the seventh inning of the second game. Florida State’s Kelly Hensley then hit a grand slam off the Jaguar Field scoreboard to tie the game.
Seminoles pitcher Monica Perry worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the seventh, and Victoria East homered over the fence in right-center field in the top of the eighth to put Florida State ahead to stay.
The regional was the first NCAA Tournament play hosted at Jaguar Field and capped a 48-win season for coach Becky Clark’s team, which also won the Sun Belt Conference championship.
Baseball Earns No. 2 Seed in Sun Belt Tournament
The South Alabama baseball team won one of three games against Troy over the weekend to claim a share of the Sun Belt Conference regular-season championship. Because Troy won the season series 2-1, the Trojans received the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament and the Jaguars were seeded second.
South Alabama (40-16, 20-10 Sun Belt) will open the tournament against No. 7 seed Arkansas-Little Rock (28-16, 13-17) at 4 p.m. Wednesday in Lafayette, La.
The Jaguars swept a three-game series from UALR earlier this season at Eddie Stanky Field and are 2-1 against UALR in Sun Belt Tournament play. South Alabama owns more Sun Belt Tournament wins than any current or former conference member, with a 78-50 all-time record in the event.
Top-seeded Troy will play No. 8 seed Arkansas State on Wednesday before South Alabama’s opener. Florida Atlantic and Western Kentucky are also on Troy’s side of the bracket, while FIU and Louisiana-Lafayette are in South Alabama’s half.
The Jaguars enter the tournament with an RPI of 17, a factor in their bid to host an NCAA regional.
