Florida State's Lonni Alameda expresses confidence, pride in pitcher Kathryn Sandercock
Florida State had the Washington offense in a vice for most of Saturday’s winners bracket contest at the Women’s College World Series. And Seminoles head coach Lonni Alameda gave plenty of credit to pitcher Kathryn Sandercock, who entered the game after six batters.
Sandercock didn’t allow a run until the sixth inning. And Alameda had all the confidence in the fifth-year senior to carry the Florida State defense from the circle.
“Well I think experience in general. Any veteran pitcher, or player, knows what this feels like being here. But she’s really good with her routine. I think she works breathing routine to keep her calm,” Alameda said on ESPN. “She wants these moments. It doesn’t scare her. She wants to be in these moments. Again, proud as a coach to see them earn these moments and be successful in them.”
When Sandercock finally did get into a jam in the top of the sixth inning, she deftly handled it. Washington had cut the Florida State lead in half, scoring their first run and threatening to tie the game at two.
Instead, Sandercock calmly induced a groundball with two outs and runners on the corners, ending the inning with the lead intact.
Speaking to ESPN earlier in the game, Washington head coach Heather Tarr discussed the challenges of facing Sandercock.
“She has a good balance of pitches and we’re just trying to compete and which one to hit. I like where we’re at, we’ve just got to probably see a few more pitches and hit a few more well,” Tarr said.
But Washington has a star pitcher of its own, Lindsay Lopez, who came on in relief for Washington and silenced the Seminoles lineup. After starter Ruby Meylan surrendered the first two runs, Lopez kept the Seminoles off the scoreboard.
“It’s neat to see her. She’s confident with what she has. She has a good mix of pitches, too. So, we’ll see what we can do here on in the later innings,” Tarr said.
Alameda also praised infielder Devyn Flaherty
Devyn Flaherty, the second baseman for Florida State, has taken on a leadership role for the Seminoles, on top of being effective on the field. She had an early hit and scored one of Florida State’s two early runs to get the Seminoles going on Saturday.
In the bottom of the sixth, Flaherty came up and knocked a single to centerfield. She quickly stole second and on a bunt, she advanced to third and then scored when the ball got away at first base.
It was a manufactured run to lead Florida State back to a two-run lead, 3-1.
“She’s been incredible. I think leadership is really hard. And when you want leadership on your team, you’ve got to challenge the daily actions of it. Dev’s wanted to be a leader, wanted to be a captain for this team. And that’s super hard to do, day-in and day-out. And I’m super proud of her. And we have honest conversations with all our kids. And I’m just really proud. You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t able to lead, yourself, and lead the team,” Alameda said.