Florida State softball's decision to not play Sandercock was 'part of plan' vs. Oklahoma

Eyebrows began to raise late in Florida State's Game 1 matchup against Oklahoma in the Women's College World Series championship when ace pitcher Kathryn Sandercock did not enter the game.

The Seminoles have ridden the arm of their senior pitcher for all but two of their games in NCAA postseason tournament play, pitching 36 innings. She's struck out 24 batters in that run, complete with two shutouts and one perfect game.

The only games she did not pitch were a 9-0 win over Marist and a 4-0 loss to South Carolina, both in the Tallahassee Regional.

With Oklahoma throwing out its ace in Jordy Bahl, many thought that Sandercock would get the call-up or at least make an appearance as FSU has "pitched by committee this season"

Live updates from Game 2: Florida State softball looks to stay alive vs. Oklahoma in Women's College World Series finals

Mack Leonard started before she was relieved for freshman Makenna Reid.

Reid was then replaced by Ali DuBois and eventually say, junior Allison Royalty enter the game. With the Sooners opened up in the game in the fourth, scoring three runs and then tacking on two more by the end of the game, Sandercock could be seen in the bullpen, but never entered the game.

Giving different looks

Seminoles head coach Lonni Alameda said that this has been her team's game plan this entire season and they didn't stray away from it.

"If we had a lead we could've put her in, but we definitely wanted to stick to the plan we've had all year," Alameda said. "I think they're a really good team at making adjustments, so we needed to see what we had from our other pitchers too. Once they got the lead, there was no reason to put Kat in."

"If they go with Jordie, they go with Jordie, and if they go with someone else, then they go with a different look, but at least we got some looks at Jordie."

WCWS Game 2: FSU softball looks to make 'necessary adjustments' vs. Oklahoma

Despite throwing out four different arms, the looks did not slow down Oklahoma as it registered nine hits and five runs, striking out only twice. Three times batters were walked and one was hit by a pitch. In the circle, Bahl shut down the Seminoles' offense, allowing only two hits, no runs, and striking out 10.

Pitching by committee

The "staff approach" to pitching is something that Oklahoma has seen before this season according to Alameda.

"I know LSU took and a couple of them that have gone that way," Alameda said. "They're a really good team at making adjustments and creating momentum. If you're going to keep yourself in a ball game, you're going to have to combat that. It depends on who you have in the circle and maybe the situations too."

When it comes to the way FSU approached its pitching rotation Wednesday night, Leonard said that she fully trusts the decision that her coach makes and she's not listening to critics.

"It's just trusting Coach A and our staff," Leonard said. "You've got what you've got that day and you're going to compete regardless of what you have. Coach A makes the best decisions I've seen all season and I'll lay all of my trust in coach's hands. Whatever she has to do or whoever she wants to put in there will get the job done."

"I think a lot of people will give their opinions about it and I think that's awesome. Great, you have opinions, but I think that we all trust each other. As Team 40, we know what we're doing as a squad, and her leader clearly knows what she's doing as well."

From the Sooner's perspective, FSU's pitching rotation did throw them off for a bit, to the point where head coach Patty Gasso said that she needed to pull the team aside and have them reset. Once they had a moment to adjust to the various looks they were getting, Oklahoma opened up the game.

"I was really proud of them turning things around very quickly, and responding to the words that we were talking about," Gasso said.

No. 3 Florida State vs. No. 1 Oklahoma

• What: NCAA Softball Women’s College World Series best of three championship series (OU leads, 1-0)

• When: Thursday, 7:30 p.m., Friday, 8 p.m. (if necessary)

• Where: USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium

• TV: Thursday-Friday, ESPN

• Records: FSU, 58-10; Oklahoma 60-1

Jack Williams covers Florida State athletics for Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at jwilliams@tallahassee.com or on Twitter @jackgwilliams.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Kathryn Sandercock sat WCWS opener as part of FSU softball plan