May 1, 2000

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida State pitcher Leslie Malerich recorded her 14th shutout of the year as the Lady Seminoles defeated Maryland, 3-0, in Game Seven of the 2000 Atlantic Coast Conference Softball Championships, Monday afternoon at the Seminole Softball Complex. With the loss, Maryland fell to 28-25 and was eliminated from the tournament while FSU, now 42-25, advanced to the championship game vs. Virginia.

Most of the game's offensive production came from the Lady Seminoles. FSU's Natalie Bennett led off the second inning with a triple to deep center field and scored on a sacrifice fly to left by Becky Wallace. With one out in the fifth, Maryland's Cortney Madea reached on an error by FSU's Brandi Stuart and went to second on a pass ball, but Malerich struck out the side. The Tribe picked up a couple of runs in the bottom of the fifth. Andi Lyons starting things off by reaching on an error by Maryland shortstop Jennifer Potzman. Felicia Williams came in to pinch run and scored on a triple down the right field line by Staci Brandon. Serita Brooks' bunt drove in Brandon. Malerich had a no-hitter going with two outs in the sixth inning when the Terps put together a run. Sarah Putnam singled to left center and Potzman followed with a double to center, but Maryland failed to score as Beth Radford flied out to end the inning. The Terps had one hit in the seventh.

Malerich allowed just three hits, struck out seven and walked just one batter and improved to 28-14 while Maryland pitcher Danielle Carpenter, who gave up just one earned run of the three, fell to 5-7.

GAME SEVEN     123 456 7  R H E
Maryland       000 000 0  0 3 1
Florida State  010 020 x  3 5 1

WP - Leslie Malerich (28-14), LP - Danielle Carpenter (5-7)