Posted: May 23, 2025
YUMA, Ariz.- For the fourth time in five years the Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers will play for an NJCAA National Championship on Saturday after hammering the #9 Wallace State Lions 11-2 in a five inning run rule in the semifinals on Friday night under the lights at the NJCAA World Series in Yuma, Arizona.
The Bucs wasted little time in jumping all over the Lions in their first elimination game of the World Series, scoring four times in the bottom of the 1st inning to take an early 4-0 lead. Noelani Livingstone singled the other way to leadoff the FSW 1st and three straight Bucs batters were hit by pitches to force her home and chase the Wallace starting pitcher without recording an out. A single back up the middle from Emily Allegood made it 2-0 FSW and Faith Wharton drove in two more with a two out single to left to double the lead to 4-0 Bucs at the end of one.
Bucs starter Leah Meyer worked a quick 1-2-3 top of the 2nd with a pair of strikeouts and got FSW right back up at the plate to add onto their lead.
Add on they did as Livingstone led off the second straight inning with a hit and she quickly scored as Skylar Brennan slashed a double to left center to make it 5-0 Bucs. Later in the inning Allegood drove in her second run of the ballgame with a sacrifice fly to left to bump the Bucs lead to 6-0 after two.
Wallace got their first hit of the game in the 3rd, but Meyer stranded the runner at third to end the inning and keep the Bucs in front 6-0.
The Bucs poured it on in the 3rd as Brennan continued her big week with a two run single to right while Nicole Edmiaston and Makayla Jakubuwski knocked in runs of their own to blow it open to an 11-0 game in favor of the Purple and Aqua.
The Lions finally broke through in the 4th, getting back to back two out hits to end Meyer's shutout bid and cut the Bucs lead to 11-2.
Lizzy Kwakernaak came in out of the FSW bullpen to finish things off, retiring all three hitters she faced in the 5th to close things out and kick in the run rule as the Bucs punched their ticket to the National Championship Game with an 11-2 win in five.
The Bucs banged out 12 hits in the win with the top of their order doing the bulk of the damage. Livingstone finished 3-4 with three runs scored while Brennan was 2-3 and accounted for six runs with three scored and three driven in. Allegood and Wharton both picked up a pair of hits and drove in two each. Meyer earned the win in the circle to improve to 19-1 on the year, going four solid innings, allowing four hits and two runs while striking out six.
FSW improves to 56-6 on the year with the victory while Wallace State sees their season come to a close at 52-15.
The win sends FSW to their fourth NJCAA National Championship Game appearance in the past five seasons. It will be a rematch of the 2023 Title Game won by the Bucs as they square off against Region VIII rival #3 Northwest Florida State. The Bucs would need to win two games against the Raiders to lift the trophy while Northwest needs to win one more victory for their first National Championship in program history.
The Bucs and Raiders will square off at 4:00 PM (ET) under the desert sun with a second game scheduled right afterwards if FSW is able to win game one.
