TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (March 22, 2000) -- The Florida State softball team improved to 24-15 with a 8-1, 6-1 sweep of the Ohio Bobcats, Wednesday evening at the Seminole Softball Complex. The Lady Seminoles outhit the Bobcats, who fall to 3-10 on the season, 20-8 in the two games.

Game one went scoreless until the fourth inning when the Bobcats' Sara Kraus scored on a two-out error. The Lady Seminoles responded in the fifth when Teresa Edenfield doubled, scoring Kimmy Carter who had reached on an error. A seven-run sixth inning broke things open for the Tribe. FSU scored the go-ahead run on a two-out triple by Carter which scored two runs. But the Lady Seminoles didn't stop there. Florida State strung together four more hits in the inning, including a two-run double by Brandi Stuart and a two-run triple by Natalie Bennett. Ohio went down in order in the seventh. The Bobcats' Kelli Bankert had two of Ohio's four hits. For FSU, both Bennett and Stuart recorded three hits and two RBIs. Edenfield and Carter also drove in two runs apiece. As a team, the Tribe tallied a season-high 13 hits. Jennifer White-Stokes struck out six and walked just two in the complete-game victory.

Ohio struck first again in the second game, picking up a run on two hits, including a RBI double by Bankert. But that would be the only offensive production for the Bobcats until the seventh inning when they picked up two more hits. Florida State got on the board in the third as Serita Brooks scored on an RBI double by Edenfield. It was Brooks that gave FSU the lead for good in the fourth inning with a two-out, in-the-park home run. It was her second blast of the year. The Tribe picked up two more runs in the fifth. Leslie Malerich pitched four innings, gave up two hits and struck out four to improve to 14-9 on the season. Robyn Gauger pitched three innings in relief and allowed just two hits and earned her first save of the season.

The Bobcats' next home game will be a double-header against Penn State Wednesday, April 5 at 2 p.m.