Kathryn Sandercock has plenty of history vs. Oklahoma ahead of 2023 WCWS Championship

Kathryn Sandercock is expected to lead Florida State in the circle against Oklahoma in the Women’s College World Series championship series this week.

Sandercock has been FSU’s ace all season long and boasts and ERA of 1.05 on the year. She’s the leader of a pitching staff that has allowed just 2 runs across 3 games at the Women’s College World Series so far in 2023.

Sandercock has been especially dominant in this year’s NCAA Tournament. She has allowed just 3 earned runs in 35 innings of work. She’s 5-0 with 2 saves during the postseason this year.

However, new test will emerge on Wednesday night when the Noles face off against No. 1 Oklahoma. The Sooners are riding a NCAA record 51-game winning streak ahead of their meeting with Florida State.

Sandercock is very familiar with Oklahoma’s offense. She’s pitched against the Sooners on 5 occasions over the course of her collegiate career, with (likely) at least 2 more coming this week.

Sandercock has enjoyed some success against Oklahoma over the years. She’s pitched a total of 17 innings against OU and has put up respectable numbers in those appearances: 3.18 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 1 win, 1 loss and 1 save.

Sandercock’s best outing against Oklahoma came back in 2019 at the St. Pete/Clearwater Elite Invitational. She pitched 5.1 innings and allowed just 1 run while striking out 2 batters in a Florida State victory. Oklahoma shortstop Grace Lyons and reserve Grace Greene are the Sooners’ lone holdovers from the lineup that Sandercock faced that day.

Sandercock’s experience vs. Oklahoma includes the 2021 Women’s College World Series championship series. Sandercock pitched in Game 1 and earned the save for the Noles in that c

ontest with 1.1 scoreless innings.

However, she did pick up the loss in Game 2 when she gave up 7 hits and 4 earned runs in 5.1 innings of work. She pitched a scoreless 3.1 innings in relief in Game 3 of that series, but Oklahoma prevailed.

Sandercock also faced the Sooners earlier this season. Florida State faced Oklahoma back on March 14 in Norman. OU won 5-4 in a game that Sandercock started. She pitched just 2 innings, however, before giving way to FSU’s bullpen. She allowed 3 hits and 1 earned run in those 2 frames.

It’s also worth noting that Florida State’s other top 3 pitchers also threw against the Sooners in that game. Makenna Reid, who is 2nd in innings for FSU this season, gave up a pair of runs in 0.2 innings of work. Ali DuBois also gave up 2 runs in just 1 inning out of the pen. Allison Royalty pitched a clean 2.1 innings to close out the game.

Florida State and Oklahoma will meet at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday night in Oklahoma City for Game 1. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.