Ashtyn Danley hit three home runs and drove in five runs Saturday as No. 9 Florida State swept through a doubleheader to advance to the Tallahassee Regional final, run-ruling Jacksonville State 11-0 and getting even with Stetson after Friday’s loss with an 11-3 win over the Hatters.
Florida State will face UCF in the regional final Sunday at noon.
Jaysoni Beachum broke the game open in the second inning, crushing the first grand slam of her career over right field to put FSU up 6-0. Two pitches later,
Danley added a solo shot to make it 7-0.
Stetson trimmed the deficit to 7-3 with three runs across the third and fourth innings, but Danley answered each time, homering again in the fifth and seventh to close it out. She became the first Seminole to hit three home runs in a game since Sydney Sherrill did so on May 7, 2022, against NC State, going 4-for-5 with four runs scored, surpassing her career highs in hits, home runs and RBI in a single afternoon.
Danley (13-1) and freshman Bella Dimitrijevic combined on a six-hitter, with Dimitrijevic tossing four innings of relief. Isa Torres went 3-for-5 with a double and now has 97 hits this season, three shy of Danielle Cox’s single-season program record of 99.
The win capped a long afternoon that began with Florida State dismantling Jacksonville State in the first game. Kennedy Harp got things started with a solo home run in the second inning, her sixth of the season, before Shelby McKenzie singled and Makenna Sturgis doubled to put runners on second and third. Isa Torres delivered the backbreaker, tripling off the top of the left-field wall to score two, and Jaysoni Beachum singled her home to make it 4-0.
The Seminoles delivered the knockout blow in the fourth as Hayley Griggs launched a solo home run to center, her sixth of the year, before Sturgis and Torres singled to set the table for Beachum, who crushed a three-run homer over dead center to push the lead to 8-0 and put the game in run-rule territory. Florida State capped the scoring in the fifth on an RBI double from Griggs, an RBI single from Sturgis and an RBI double from Torres, who went a home run shy of the cycle on the day.
Jazzy Francik (23-3) was sharp in her three innings of work, allowing three hits and striking out four without allowing a run. Makenna Reid finished the final two frames, surrendering one hit and fanning two. Torres and Sturgis each went 3-for-3, while Beachum led all players with four RBI.
The wins helped Florida State reached 50 wins for the eighth time under coach Lonni Alameda and extend its streak of advancing to the NCAA Regional Final to 13 consecutive seasons.
