Florida State's Michaela Edenfield explains what it means to make it to the WCWS finals

Florida State catcher Michaela Edenfield was a true freshman redshirting the season when the Seminoles made the Women’s College World Series finals in 2021 before losing to Oklahoma.

Edenfield earned a starting role the next year, but her dream of playing in Oklahoma City was dashed early on as Florida State was eliminated in the Regional Round of the tournament.

But Edenfield and the Seminoles rebounded this season. Now, after defeating on Monday night in the semifinals, Florida State finds itself back in the Women’s College World Series finals against the Sooners.

Edenfield said the team did it by taking everything one pitch at a time.

“One pitch softball, and just being gritty,” Edenfield said to ESPN’s Holly Rowe after the game. “Our motto this year is let’s ride. It’s talking about being rugged, dependable and energetic. I think we’ve been doing that all this year. It’s really cool just to being here and being able to play for a championship here.”

Edenfield opened the scoring for Florida State after the Volunteers scored first with a solo home run in the second inning.

The homer proved to be a gamechanger as it kicked started five unanswered runs for the Seminoles that flipped a 1-0 deficit into a 5-1 victory.

The redshirt sophomore finished the game 1-for-2 with a home run and walk.

Edenfield credited the work of the team’s mental performance coach Ellie Cooper as being key to her success.

“Being present,” Edenfield said when asked what made her proudest about being dependable for her team. “I met with our mental performance coach this year and I told her I just wanted to be present every pitch. It doesn’t matter what happens with my personal goals, my hits, whatever that is. I just want to be there for my pitchers and be there for my team; whatever they need from me.”

It wasn’t the first time during the Women’s College World Series.

After defeating Oklahoma State in the team’s first game in Oklahoma City, Edenfield talked about Cooper and how the coach related to the weather delay that occurred during the game.

“I want to add on about our mental performance coach, Ellie Cooper, said quite a few different statements, and I think just having a whole hashtag good moment,” Edenfield said via ASAPTranscripts. “I remember when we first got the first delay, we had to get off the field, I was just like, Yes, yes, yes, because I think the best way to react to something is positive because we can only control our reaction to things.”