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2023 Clearwater Invitational (Day 4)

We're down to the final three games of this year's Clearwater Invitational, in one of which Florida State is taking on Alabama... Crimson Tide pitcher Montana Fouts gets a two-out, bases-loaded strikeout to end an FSU threat in the top of the first... Bama goes quietly in the bottom of the first... Still scoreless with the Tide batting in the bottom of the third... Alabama leading 2-1 after four and a half... All three runs in the game are via solo homers (two from the Tide in the bottom of the fourth and one from FSU in the top of the fifth)... Seminoles coming up in the top of the seventh for their final opportunity to stay alive, still trailing 2-1... First two FSU batters retired. Jahni Kerr, whose earlier homer provided the Seminoles' only run, gets an infield single on a deep grounder that the shortstop fields but has no play on... Pinch-runner for Kerr steals second and advances to third on bad throw... Josie Muffley, a veteran of FSU's 2021 national runner-up squad, grounds out to first base to end the game... With the win, Alabama ends the tournament 4-1, its only loss coming to UCLA. Florida State finishes 3-2...

Other impressive teams in the tournament include:

  • UCLA, 5-0. The Bruins dispatched of Alabama, Florida State, and Virginia Tech relatively easily, but needed a late rally to get by Louisiana-Lafayette. UCLA trailed the Ragin' Cajuns 3-2 entering the top of the seventh, but scored two runs on back-to-back two-out singles by Savannah Pola and Maya Brady to go ahead 4-3 and then closed the door in the bottom of the seventh. 
  • Oklahoma State, 5-0, with four wins by run-rule. The Cowgirls' other win came over No. 8/9 Virginia Tech by a 10-9 score. OSU squandered a 9-3 lead, with the Hokies tallying 3, 1, and 2 runs in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings, respectively, to tie the game 9-9. However, the Cowgirls' Katie Lott doubled in the game-winning run with one out in the bottom of the seventh.
  • Duke, 4-1, the Blue Devils' only loss coming narrowly to Alabama (5-4). In the process, Duke beat No. 4 Arkansas 7-4.

The very last game of the tourney will pit Mississippi State against Central Florida at 7:00 pm Central on ESPN2...

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