Over the weekend, the St. Pete-Clearwater Elite Invitational took place and featured 16 teams, all with great talent across the board. There were plenty of games that were interesting and generated highlight reels for both teams and players alike. But what have we learned about these squads prior to the third week of regular season competition?
Wisconsin made a statement
The unranked Wisconsin Badgers looked impressive during the invitational, able to grab three wins against some serious competition. They defeated both #24 UCF and #15 Clemson en route to delivering a message to every other opponent on the schedule. Kayla Konwent had a fantastic stretch of games during the invitational, finishing with a .355 batting average and six RBI, four against UCF including a home run.
Ava Justman started a majority of the weekend’s matchups, dominating in the victory over Central Florida, tallying five innings of one run ball, allowing a run on three hits with four punchouts. Despite the Badgers recording a loss in the finale, Justman hurled 5.2 innings while only surrendering one run with three strikeouts in the loss to USF.
Florida State keeps perfect record
The Florida State Seminoles came into Clearwater a perfect 5-0 and left a perfect 10-0 after dominanting the entire invitational. Kathryn Sandercock and Emma Wilson combined for a no-hitter against UCF in an utter display of pure dominance. Sandercock went four perfect innings with four strikeouts before handing over the ball to Wilson, who completed one inning walking only one batter.
In the game of the weekend, Florida State required extras to defeat #3 UCLA. The Bruins started the day with two runs courtesy of a second inning error by center fielder Jahni Kerr. Florida State’s Michaela Edenfield led off the bottom half of the inning with a solo shot to center field. The match required extra innings, and in the eighth inning, Kalei Harding doubled to left-center for a walk-off win, capping off a perfect end to a perfect invitational for Florida State.
Goodbye to Clearwater
Florida State’s dominance across the diamond stole the headlines for the weekend, and rightfully so, but Wisconsin’s energy and success of the weekend is huge for the Badgers before conference play. Clearwater played home to a memorable and impactful weekend for collegiate softball, not for just one weekend, but playing a role in the season and beyond.