Eight teams entered Oklahoma City, and now just two remain to compete for the National Championship. The Washington Huskies and the Florida State Seminoles will go head-to-head in a best of three series to determine the champion. As the teams get ready to kick off game one of the championship series on Monday night, let’s take a look at how the teams stack up position by position.
Pitcher
Florida State: Meghan King, RSJR & Kylee Hanson, RSSR – King has pitched in each of her team’s games in the World Series, starting three of them. The duo make a hearty 1-2 punch in the circle, and Hanson has improved as the series has gone on after some early jitters handed her the loss in her team’s opening game on Thursday. Before her team’s 12-6 win on Sunday night, Hanson’s season line included a 1.19 ERA and 239 strikeouts in 200 innings; King’s was similar, a 1.22 mark and an opponent’s batting average of .188 in 183 innings. Hanson earned first-team all-American honors in her first and only season as a Nole.
Washington: Gabbie Plain, FR & Taran Alvelo, JR – For Plain, the Australian freshman hurler, 2018 has been a breakout season as she posted a 1.06 ERA and 172 strikeouts in just 145 innings. Splitting time with Alvelo, the veteran workhorse who battled injuries mid-season, Plain kept the Huskies in contention in conference play and at the top of the national rankings. Alvelo, for her part, threw 175 innings for her team, collecting 229 strikeouts and an opponent’s batting average of .141.
Advantage: Draw
Catcher
Florida State: Anna Shelnutt, SO – Defensively, Shelnutt has been stellar in the World Series, including some highlight-reel plays. Lonni Alameda commended Shelnutt in her press conference on Sunday night, calling the second-year backstop “the anchor” of the team’s pitching success. Offensively, as the program’s clean up hitter, Shelnutt is one of just three FSU starters that does not have a home run in the World Series.
Washington: Emma Helm, FR – After Morganne Flores’ preseason injury, Helm and Rachel Ogasawara were thrust into action unexpectedly. Flores, who was expected to contend for national awards and recognition, left hard shoes to fill, but the pair have stepped up defensively, with just three fielding errors on the season. Offensively is another story, as Helm has batted .223 with three home runs and nineteen RBI as the primary backstop. Ogasawara hit .171 with three extra base hits, all doubles.
Advantage: Florida State
First Base
Florida State: Carsyn Gordon, JR – Gordon has perhaps been the unsung hero of the Noles’ postseason success. It was her walk-off home run that gave her team the victory in the regional matchup against Auburn and her home run against LSU proved to be the winning run in game two of the Super regional. On Sunday night, Gordon’s three-run shot brought the run-rule into play against UCLA; the home run came after the Bruins intentionally walked Jessie Warren in front of her. Gordon has been one of FSU’s best hitters in the postseason.
Washington: Kirstyn Thomas, SR – Thomas started the season red-hot, with eleven home runs in the pre-conference season, but has just three extra base hits since April 1st, including a double against Texas in the regional round. She’s gone 1-9 in the Women’s College World Series and has struck out four times. A senior, Thomas still bats in the cleanup position for the Huskies and packs a pop in her bat, but after her hot start, has gone ice cold down the stretch.
Advantage: Florida State
Second Base
Florida State: Sydney Sherrill, FR – A freshman playing in front of her hometown crowd (she’s an Oklahoma City native), Sherrill has showed out in the World Series with a pair of home runs, including one as part of the Noles’ 12-6 rout of UCLA on Sunday night. Sherrill sat second on the team with a .378 batting average before Sunday night’s game.
Washington: Taryn Atlee, SO – A former Rutgers transfer, Atlee hit .244 on the season and recorded a .329 on-base percentage. She has hit .250 in Oklahoma City and recorded a double and an RBI against Oregon. In a series where defense has become an emphasis, she made just her fourth error of the season in the same Oregon matchup after posting a .977 fielding percentage during the season.
Advantage: Florida State
Third Base
Florida State: Jessie Warren, SR – The Seminoles’ all-time home run and RBI record holder, Warren not only leads her team in the power department, but also in batting average and on-base percentage. More than just a slugger, Warren is also an emotional leader for her team and, as a senior, a veteran presence. One of the best players in Atlantic Coast Conference history and a Seminole all-time great, she should be a huge factor in the championship series.
Washington: Taylor Van Zee, SR – Van Zee is the kind of player that every coach wants nine of in their lineup. A fiery, emotional leader, Van Zee leads the team on the diamond as well as in the batting lineup. The team’s leadoff hitter, she hit .376 on the year, both for power and to get on base, as she recorded nine home runs and a .473 on-base percentage. She led the team in walks with thirty and collected thirty extra base hits, including those home runs. With two defensive errors on the year, she’s made some incredible defensive plays in Oklahoma City that have helped keep her team in ballgames.
Advantage: Draw
Shortstop
Florida State: Cali Harrod, JR – Harrod was part of the home run barrage on Sunday night against UCLA in the winner-take-all semifinal game; the longball was her first of the series. She is also the team’s best and most frequent base stealer, swiping 33 bags in 34 tries. She has made three defensive errors in the World Series and in a series that has seen a lot of momentum swings back and forth due to defensive miscues, she’ll need to shore up that part of her game in the championship series.
Washington: Sis Bates, SO – Bates has reached base via a hit in each of her team’s trio of World Series games and has literally made game-saving plays at the shortstop position defensively. Whether to squelch a rally before it got started or end a scoring threat, it would take more than one hand to tally the number of times that Bates has come through in that way just in Oklahoma City. The team’s leader with a batting average near .400, she makes a difference with her bat, as well.
Advantage: Washington
Outfield
Florida State: Dani Morgan, SO; Morgan Klaevemann, SR; Zoe Casas, JR – Formerly the team’s leadoff hitter, Klaevemann has adapted to the ‘second leadoff’ position in batting at the bottom of the order and putting runners on base in front of the power-hitting front half of the lineup. Each of the trio of outfielders hit a double in the Noles’ 12-run rout on Sunday night, while Klaevemann and Casas also had extra-base hits earlier in the series. With just two fielding errors between the trio, both of them committed by Casas, the defensive mindedness could come in handy against a hard-hitting Washington team.
Washington: Julia DePonte, SR; Kelly Burdick, SR; Trystan Melhart, SR – Melhart made headlines and SportsCenter with a pair of stellar, highlight-reel catches during the World Series, including one that squelched an Oklahoma rally on Sunday in the semifinal game that sent the Huskies to the championship series. Melhart hit .429 in the postseason coming into the World Series and has reached base in two of her team’s three games in OKC. The trio are another defensively-solid unit with just three errors among them on the year.
Advantage: Draw
Designated Player
Florida State: Elizabeth Mason, RSFR – It was Mason’s sixth-inning, three-run home run that brought about the winner-take-all game on Sunday night. The freshman had reached base in each of the two games that she had played in until that point and collected three RBI, but the home run was just her third hit of the series.
Washington: Noelle Hee, FR – Also a first-year player, Hee has done her job of coming through when her team needs her. She holds the eighth-best batting average on the Huskies’ squad, but the fifth-best slugging percentage. She boasts eleven extra-base hits, including seven home runs, and packs a mean punch in the middle of the Husky order.
Advantage: Draw
Conclusion: This championship series could be an all-time classic – after holding the #1 national ranking for a good portion of the season, Washington would seem to many to be the favorite. Nevertheless, Florida State performs best under pressure and with their backs against the wall and are riding a momentum high. The Noles win the position-by-position battle, but the teams are fairly even-keeled at most positions. Fans of good softball will not want to miss this series.
