Florida St. tops Washington, takes lead in title series

OKLAHOMA CITY – Something had to give.

Both Florida State’s Meghan King and Washington’s Gabbie Plain entered Game 1 of the Women’s College World Series championship series with two wins and no earned runs allowed in Oklahoma City.

Finally, Florida State broke through. Sophomore catcher Anna Shelnutt’s solo homer in the sixth inning helped the Seminoles defeat Washington 1-0 on Monday night to start the best-of-three series.

Shelnutt hit just five home runs this season, but the player her teammates call “Postseason Anna” came through.

“I think everybody battling earlier in the game is what got me that one pitch that I could drive it out,” Shelnutt said. “It wore her (Plain) down, and that’s where she’d throw me one that I could get a hit for my team.”

Shelnutt’s homer was Plain’s first earned run allowed in 16 2/3 innings of World Series action.

“The ball was probably a bit higher than I would have liked for it to be, but it was just a good hit,” Plain said. “She read it well and went with it and put it where she wanted it to go. There’s not much you can do about that.”

King made it hold up in the final two innings. She pitched a five-hitter with six strikeouts and improved to 3-0 with a save at the World Series. She has not allowed an earned run in 27 1/3 innings in Oklahoma City.

The Seminoles (57-12) could clinch their first national title in Game 2 on Tuesday. Washington (52-9) will need to win Tuesday and Wednesday to claim its second national title.

Plain allowed just five hits and struck out six. She called her performance “on the average side,” drawing a chuckle from coach Heather Tarr.

“How do you tell a kid it was a bad night?” Tarr said. “It wasn’t a bad night. We didn’t score. Our bad.”