Kathryn Sandercock shares immediate reaction to final pitch in Tennessee win

When Kathryn Sandercock came in for Florida State to relieve Makenna Reid against Tennessee, the stakes were high. A victory sent the Seminoles to the Women’s College World Series championship series, and a loss meant they’d face the Lady Vols one more time in an elimination game.

Just as she has all season, she stepped up in the big moment and got Zaida Puni to fly out to left field for the final out, giving Florida State the 5-1 victory to set up a date with No. 1 seed Oklahoma with a national championship on the line.

For Sandercock, it means her impressive five-year career in Tallahassee will end in the championship series.

“I was just so unbelievably grateful just top to bottom,” Sandercock said after the victory over Tennessee. “I’m so grateful for Coach [Lonni Alameda] and the coaching staff, I’m so grateful that I’m at Florida State, I’m grateful to be here, I’m grateful for the team. I was really just honestly overwhelmed with gratitude.

“It’s just every athlete’s dream to end their career in a national championship game. I always knew that we could do it, so I’m just really, really, really proud of the team today. Like, I just don’t think that words could even express how happy. I’m just so elated to be playing one more day and getting to put the jersey on one more time.”

Sandercock turned in a strong showing out of the bullpen against Tennessee, striking out four and allowing just one hit over four innings of work. That earned her the save as FSU scored five runs on eight hits to advance to the best-of-three championship series.

If fans feel like they’ve seen this movie before, it’s because they have. Florida State and Oklahoma squared off in the 2021 WCWS championship series, which the Sooners won 2-1. Sandercock was part of that team as a junior and appeared in all three games of the series.

That’s not the last time FSU and OU have faced off, though. The latest matchup happened in March when the Sooners defeated the Seminoles 5-4. In that game, Sandercock allowed one run on one hit and struck out seven hitters.

That familiarity could be key when Game 1 gets underway Wednesday night in Oklahoma City. Sandercock made it clear: The Seminoles will be ready, and they want this film to end differently than the last one.

“It was a great job making our schedule,” Sandercock said. “Kudos to [assistant coach Travis Wilson] on that. They’re tough games. We go out there and we wanted to play them, spring break. A long road trip, it was tiring for the team, it was tough on us. I think we went 1-3. We learned a lot about ourselves.

“I totally believe we wouldn’t be where we are now if we hadn’t had that experience. It’s nice to have a little bit of information, having already played them.”