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Florida State Softball falters late in ACC Championship loss to Clemson

On3 imageby:Corey Clark•05/10/25•

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Florida State's Katie Dack gets emotional during Saturday's ACC Tournament title game against Clemson. (Courtesy of FSU Sports Information)

Heading into the seventh inning of Saturday’s ACC Championship Game, the Florida State pitching staff hadn’t allowed a single earned run in the entire tournament.

On one swing from Clemson freshman Kylee Johnson, the Seminoles allowed two. And that was enough for the Tigers to win their first-ever ACC tournament title and leave FSU as the runner-up in Brighton, Mass.

After Julia Apsel walked the leadoff hitter to start the frame, freshman Jazzy Francik came on in relief for the Seminoles. She struck out the first batter she faced, but after getting ahead 0-2 on Johnson, she left an off-speed pitch up and Johnson crushed it over the center-field wall for her fourth homer of the season — and by far the biggest of the season.

Florida State, which struggled with runners in scoring position all game, couldn’t score a run in the bottom of the inning despite getting two hits to start the frame. The Seminoles were then left to watch the team in purple celebrate in the middle of the diamond.

The Seminoles finished the game 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

Their lone run came on a solo homer by Hallie Wacaser in the bottom of the third inning. It was also the only extra-base hit for the Florida State offense.

FSU, which was 30-0 on the season when taking a lead into the seventh inning, collected eight hits in the game. Clemson had just three. And the Seminoles struck out two times compared to Clemson’s nine. But it was the one swing by Johnson that completely flipped the script and made history for the Tigers.

It was not only the first ACC title for the Clemson program, but it was the first-ever Tigers win over FSU. They launched their softball program in 2020 and dropped all seven of their first games against the ‘Noles.

The Seminoles, who had the No. 3 RPI in the country heading into the game on Saturday, will now wait to find their postseason fate on Sunday evening on the NCAA Selection Show. Florida State is all but assured of being an NCAA Regional host and should have a very good chance to be a Top 8 national seed despite the loss on Saturday.

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