Florida State University Athletics
Florida State
1-1
Charlotte
1-1
Harding's Record Night Leads No. 4 Softball Past Charlotte
2/9/2024 8:23:00 PM | Softball
TALLAHASSEE – Kalei Harding's record night of seven RBI helped the No. 4 Florida State softball team (1-1) to a convincing 11-0 win in five innings over Charlotte (1-1) on Friday night at JoAnne Graf Field.
The Seminoles opened up the scoring early at the bottom of the first inning. Jahni Kerr drew a leadoff walk to proceed to first. Michaela Edenfield drove one deep to center field for a single to move Kerr to third. Kalei Harding came to bat and smashed a three-run home run to center field to make the score 3-0.
After opening the second inning with a triple by error, Seminole pitcher Allison Royalty responded by throwing two strikeouts in a row, with the top half of the inning being closed out by a fly out to center field.
The Seminoles came in at the bottom of the second inning with Jaysoni Beachum hitting a single to center field, who advanced to second on a wild pitch. Beachum advanced to third on an Ashtyn Danley groundout, and Kerr came in and smacked a RBI single to right field to drive Beachum in, making the score 4-0 to close out the inning.
Amaya Ross drew a walk in the fourth inning and immediately stole second to put her in scoring position. Katie Dack continued her solid start to the season with a single to bring Ross home to make the score 5-0.
Isa Torres kicked the Seminoles off again in the fourth inning with a line drive single to left field. Kerr proceeded to draw the walk, moving Torres to second. Edenfield snuck a single toward third base to load the bases. Harding then came in and soared the ball over the fence for the first grand slam of the year and her second home run of the night, extending the lead to 9-0. Harding's seven RBI was tied for the most in school history joining Anna Shelnutt who hit seven RBI on May 11, 2017, against Virginia in the ACC Tournament. Harding had her sixth multi-home run game of her career and also surpassed 150 career RBI.
The Seminoles continued the scoring as Devyn Flaherty came in and was able to draw a walk. Amaya Ross hit a quick ground ball single toward third base, advancing Flaherty to second. Beachum hit a single RBI to center field to bring Flaherty home and advance Ross to third, putting the Noles up 10-0. Torres continued to onslaught as she hit a double RBI deep to centerfield, pushing the score to 11-0, to wrap up the fourth inning and the game. The freshman duo of Torres and Beachum are a combined 8-for-15 with three RBI in the Seminoles' first two games.
Royalty was phenomenal in the circle for the Noles going four innings and allowing just three hits while striking out five, her second-most strikeouts as a Seminole. Mimi Gooden made her first career appearance in the fifth inning and sat the 49ers down in order to end the game.
Florida State will return to The Plex tomorrow to take on Texas Tech and Florida A&M. The doubleheader is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. and both games can be seen on ACC Network Extra.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Royalty, Allison (1-0)
L: BECKER, Kadie (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Torres, Isa 1
HR: Harding, Kalei 2
RBI: Kerr, Jahni 1 ; Harding, Kalei 7 ; Dack, Katie 1 ; Beachum, Jaysoni 1 ; Torres, Isa 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kerr, Jahni 2 ; Edenfield, Michaela 1 ; Frey, Madi 1 ; Harding, Kalei 2 ; Flaherty, Devyn 1 ; Ross, Amaya 2 ; Beachum, Jaysoni 1 ; Torres, Isa 1
SB: Ross, Amaya 1
