May 19, 2001

Tallahassee, FL - In a meeting between the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in a winner's bracket game, the sixth-ranked Cal Golden Bears (52-15) downed Florida State (56-11) in the bottom of the seventh to advance to the championship game of the 2001 NCAA Tallahassee Regional. The game featured a pitcher's duel between starters Jen White-Stokes (19-5) of Florida State and Jocelyn Forest (27-7) of Cal that saw the two combine to allow just six hits, five walks and 11 strikeouts. The Bear's utilized a suicide squeeze in the bottom of the seventh to score Amber Phillips with the game-winner, advancing Cal to Sunday's championship game. The Seminoles will face Florida Atlantic this afternoon for the right to face the Bears in the championship Sunday, May 20.

"That was a great pitcher's duel," said Florida State head coach JoAnne Graf. "We had several opportunities to score but we couldn't get a hit at the right time. We knew Cal was goning to try to squeeze on the final play be we just couldn't make the play."

The Seminoles threatened to take the lead in the top of the second when sophomore Brandi Stuart laced a one-out double to left center. FSU was unable to bring Stuart home after White-Stokes fouled out to the catcher and Monique Marier struck out swinging. The double was the first allowed by Forest in the 2001 NCAA Tournament.

The game remained scoreless into the bottom of the sixth inning with White-Stokes allowing just two hits with two strikeouts and Forest allowing just two hits with seven strikeouts. The Bears threatened to take the lead when Nelson drew a two-out walk, number 85 on the season for the first baseman, and Eryn Manahan doubled to right center to put runners on second and third. White-Stokes ended the Cal rally by inducing Bears' catcher Courtney Scott into a ground out to second to end the inning.

Florida State staged a two-out seventh inning rally when White-Stokes drew a two out walk, Forest's first of the game, and Marier singled to left to place runners on first and second. The Bears got out of the inning when Forest got starting shortstop Natalie Bennett to pop out to the third baseman to send the game into the bottom of the seventh tied at 0-0. Cal came right back in the bottom of the seventh with a lead off double by Amber Phillips.

After Mikella Pedretti flew out to right, Kristen Morley reached on an error by Stuart allowing Pedretti to advance to third. That brought up starting shortstop Paige Bowie who laid down a sacrifice bunt in an attempt to score Pedretti with the winning run. White-Stokes fielded the bunt and tossed it to Kimmy Carter at home with Pedretti charging down the third baseline. After a collision at the plate, the home plate umpire signaled safe, then out and then safe again after Carter bobbled the ball on the play.

"With Amber leading off the seventh with a double, I knew that we had a good chance," said California head coach Diane Ninemire. "Unfortunately, Mikella could not get Amber over but Kristen came through and did her job. Paige laid down a great bunt and Amber had a great slide to knock the ball loose."

Florida State now faces Florida Atlantic at 6:00 p.m. in a loser's bracket game with the winner needing to defeat Cal twice to advance to the College World Series in Oklahoma City, Okla. The Seminoles and Owls have met three times this season with FSU holding a 2-1edge in the series. FSU dropped its first game with FAU 2-1 in 10 innings at the FAU/Worth Invitational in Boca Raton, Fla. before defeating FAU 1-0 in the championship game of the tournament. FSU also downed the Owls 5-4 on a triple play in the bottom of the eighth at the Tar Heel Invitational in Chapel Hill, NC. For information on the Seminole softball team or the 2001 NCAA Tallahassee Regional, please visit www.seminoles.com.