Posted: May 08, 2025
CLEARWATER, Fla.- After winning in a blowout in their opening game of the 2025 FCSAA Championships, things were a little tighter for the #1 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers in their semifinal matchup with the #6 Seminole State Raiders on Thursday, taking things down to the wire in a 3-1 victory to send them to their fifth FCSAA Championship Game appearance in program history.
The Bucs were held without a run in an inning for the first time in the tournament in the 1st inning Thursday, but Nicole Edmiaston made sure that wasn't going to happen two innings in a row as she blasted a leadoff home run out to dead center in the bottom of the 2nd to get FSW on the board first and give them a 1-0 lead after two.
Seminole leveled the score with two outs in the 3rd, getting a single to left to drive home a run and make it a 1-1 game after 2 1/2.
The game didn't stay tied long though as Faith Wharton led off the FSW 3rd with a double and scored on a two out RBI single from Virginia Mambelli to put the Bucs back in front 2-1.
Emily Allegood drilled a leadoff triple to the right center field gap to begin the FSW 4th and she trotted home on a sacrifice fly from Karolina Dvorakova to pad the Bucs lead to 3-1.
A two out FSW error in the 5th allowed Seminole to put the tying runs on base, but Leah Meyer got a groundout to get out of the jam to keep it a 3-1 game in favor of the Bucs.
There was more traffic for the Raiders in the 6th as once again they put the tying runs on base, but FSW pulled the ace from their sleeve and laid it in the pitching circle as Zoe Yzaguirre came in out of the bullpen for her first appearance since March 4th and pitched up a huge strikeout to keep the Bucs in front 3-1.
The Bucs couldn't get any insurance in the 7th, but they didn't need it as Yzaguirre worked around a two out double in the 7th, finishing off the game in style with a strikeout to close things out and secure a 3-1 win for FSW.
Mambelli, Edmiaston, and Wharton combined for 6 of the Bucs 8 hits in the win with Mambelli and Edimiaston both knocking a run in and Wharton scoring one. Leah Meyer earned the win in the circle, going 2 2/3 scoreless frames with three strikeouts to improve to 18-1 on the year while Yzaguirre picks up her first save of the season with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless work.
The Bucs win their 12th straight to improve to 51-5 on the year while Seminole falls to 43-17.
The Bucs now head to their fifth FCSAA Championship Game in program history where they will take on #22 Chipola who put together a miraculous late game comeback to stun Eastern Florida and reach the Title Game on the other side of the bracket. The Bucs and Indians will square off at 4 PM in Clearwater with the winner punching their ticket to the NJCAA World Series in Yuma, Arizona later this month.
