Tallahassee Region 2014 Softball World Series Breakdown
#8 Florida State, South Carolina, South Florida, Fordham
It has been a very successful season for the Florida State program, as the Seminoles compiled 50 victories prior to the start of the NCAA tournament. Alabama, Nebraska and Notre Dame are among the teams that have beaten Florida State this season, but the Seminoles defeated Notre Dame in the ACC tournament to gain a bit of revenge. Led by the potent bats of Maddie O’Brien (.443-23-80) and Courtney Senas (.343-13-50), Florida State has a .316 average and 60 home runs. This team has displayed some potent bats, but the pitching of Lacey Wardrop (33-4, 0.96 ERA, 256 strikeouts) has been lights-out. Jessica Burroughs (17-1, 1.92) has not done a bad job either. This could be a very difficult team to beat.
South Carolina (35-20) has a sub-.500 record in the SEC but three of its most prominent players (Kaylea Snaer, Victoria Williams and Nickie Blue) are freshmen and this team could be a surprise to face if it gets hot at the right time. Kourtney Salvarola and Lee Ann Spivey lead a potent offense for South Florida (41-15), which led the American Athletic Conference with a .307 batting average and a .972 fielding percentage. This is the second straight appearance in the NCAA tournament for South Florida, as it is for South Carolina. Fordham (36-18) was led by Elise Fortier’s potent bat with 19 home runs and 70 RBI. Its batting average (.291), home runs per game (1.04) and slugging percentage (.473) all led the Atlantic 10. Fordham is in the tournament for the fourth time in five seasons. None of Florida State’s three challengers advanced past the regional round.
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