Michaela Edenfield, Jaysoni Beachum dominate | Dugout Club Classic takeaways for FSU softball

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Michaela Edenfield, Jaysoni Beachum dominate | Dugout Club Classic takeaways for FSU softball

Ehsan Kassim, Tallahassee Democrat · Tallahassee Democrat

Sun, Feb 25, 2024 ·

5 min read

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Florida State softball needed a good weekend bounce back following a rough stint at the Clearwater Invitational last weekend.

The Seminoles (11-3) rose to the challenge at the Dugout Club Classic, sweeping through Florida International, Charleston Southern and Nicholls in three doubleheaders over the weekend.

FSU outscored its three opponents 50-11 over the six games, including three victories by the run-rule.

The Seminoles concluded the classic with a doubleheader sweep of Nicholls, which featured a pair of walk-off hits by catcher Michaela Edenfield. Freshman Jaysoni Beachum also flexed her power in that second game.

Following a good showing at home, FSU travels Wednesday out west to Eugene, Oregon for the Jane Sanders Classic, hosted by Oregon.

Here are our takeaways from the weekend.

Michaela Edenfield comes alive

Florida State softball swept Nicholls 5-4, 8-0, in a doubleheader Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024 during the Dugout Club Classic at JoAnne Graf Field.

Edenfield had a decent start to the season, but it seemed like her immense power still had not quite shown up for the 2024 season.

She entered the weekend hitting for a .364 average with two home runs and five RBI and also struggled with strikeouts, with seven over her first 22 at-bats.

That changed over three days.

Edenfield hit a pair of home runs against the Panthers on Thursday. She then added one home run each day Friday and Saturday.

Coming out of the weekend, Edenfield is hitting .412 with six home runs 14 RBI and 11 runs scored. She struck out just twice over the weekend and walked seven times. She has more walks (11) than strikeouts (7).

"She works really hard and has poured a lot into the pitchers," FSU head coach Lonni Alameda said . "A lot of the time, people don't know the energy it takes to have a relationship with the pitchers, to defend and hit at the same time.

"I know she was pretty gassed giving her all for the six games."

Edenfield had a walk-off single, scoring Hallie Wacaser from second to complete a comeback and a 5-4 victory for the Seminoles. In the nightcap, she hit a two-run home run to give FSU a run-rule victory in five innings.

Both hits accomplished something she had never done before.

"After the first game, that was the first time I had walked off a game, and then come around the second game," Edenfield said following the second game. "Sometimes the game kind of finds you, it doesn't matter who you are."

Jaysoni Beachum continues to excel

Beachum got FSU on the board with a shot down the left field line which left the park in the second inning. Before Edenfield's walk-off home run, Beachum hit a solo shot to open the bottom of the fifth inning.

"My first one, I was like, 'Please stay fair, please stay fair,'" Beachum said postgam e with a laugh.

Edenfield added she knew the first home run was gone.

"My second one, I was trying to get a pitch I could hit and hit it as far as I can," Beachum said. "Just keeping it simple, getting my swing off."

The two-run home run performance for the freshman from Florida High gave her a total of three career home runs, all hit at JoAnne Graf. She already has seven multi-hit games, including her second career three-hit game in the nightcap.

Beachum has played in all 14 games so far for the Seminoles at third base and has a hit in all but one of them. She leads the team with a .512 batting average, three home runs, 14 RBI and 12 runs scored.

"She's been on fire since she got here," Alameda said. "At some point, we'll hit a little bit of a lull. As a freshman, you start to get people who don't know you and then they start to scout you. That comes with the mindset. But she's pretty level-headed.

"I just really like how she's been coming to work every day. She has a very professional mindset."

Is Allision Royalty growing into the ace role?

Allison Royalty pitched the complete game shutout for the Seminoles in the nightcap. In the performance, she struck out four and walked one for her second shutout of the year.

She also entered earlier in the day in relief of Makenna Reid and threw 1 ⅔ innings, allowing one run on two hits. She also picked up the win that game to run her record to 7-1.

Royalty threw a season-high 65 pitches in the outing and 89 for the day.

"Allison has done a good job of being super vulnerable about what she's trying to attack this year," Edenfield said. "I think we did a really good job today of understanding what situations and what pitches we wanted to execute."

For the season, Royalty has a team-best 0.62 ERA in a team-high 22 ⅔ innings. She has allowed 19 hits while striking out 19 and walking seven.

Royalty is slowly emerging as the leader of the pitching staff, if not the early ace.

"Allison has really worked on strongest mentally and physically," Alameda said. "She stayed over here during summer and did everything she needed to do to be the person to get the load of innings.

".... She's done a good job of that. She does give us a chance to utilize her in the longer innings if we need to."

FSU heads to Oregon for Jane Sanders Classic

Friday

vs. Mount St. Mary's, 3:30 p.m.

vs. Maryland, 6:30 p.m.

Saturday

vs. Washington, 1 p.m.

vs. Oregon, 6:30 p.m.

Reach Ehsan Kassim at ekassim@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Ehsan_Kassim. You can also follow our coverage on Facebook (NoleSports), Instagram (tlhnolesports) and YouTube channel (NoleSportsTD).

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Michaela Edenfield, Jaysoni Beachum power FSU softball in perfect weekend

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