Kaley Mudge remains in awe of finishing her first full college softball season with Florida State on the sport’s biggest stage earlier this month.
“I don’t think it’s set in yet because it’s been such a dream for me since I was like 5 years old,” Mudge said of playing in the NCAA Women’s College World Series. “The experience was so amazing. It was so much fun there with my teammates and coaches and all the softball fans.”
Mudge, a 2019 Winter Springs graduate, set an NCAA record last week when she connected on a pitch in the upper part of the strike zone for her 14th hit of the World Series against Oklahoma pitcher Giselle Juarez.
The lead-off double to right center field was one of only two hits that afternoon for FSU during a 5-1 championship-game loss against the No. 1-ranked Sooners. The Seminoles entered the postseason as the No. 10 seed.
“I looked back at my team’s dugout and they were all so happy for me,” said Mudge, who was routinely shown by ESPN cameras flashing a smile throughout the tournament.
Mudge’s final hit of the season at Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City broke a four-way tie with three other players. FSU’s Jessie Warren (2018), Florida’s Michelle Moultrie (2011) and Arizona’s Brittany Lastrapes (2010) each previously recorded 13 hits in a Women’s College World Series.
FSU assistant coach Travis Wilson asked the umpire for the record-breaking ball and presented it to Mudge’s parents later that night when players gathered with family at the team hotel.
Tears were shed.
“They kept expressing how happy they were for me,” Mudge said. “We had a whole family group chat going with grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. To have that kind of support made me get emotional, too.”
While Mudge’s mom, dad and bother were in attendance for the tournament, others from Winter Springs and the surrounding area cheered from afar with great pride through text messages and while gathered at a local restaurant during games.
“It goes back to what an amazing person she is,” Winter Springs athletic director Scott Gomrad said. “As good of a player as she is, she’s an even better human being. We’re all huge fans of her as a person. To see her achieve her goals and help the FSU team have success has been a real pleasure for all of us as a community, as a school, and as an athletic department.”
Mudge was a three-sport athlete at Winter Springs. She finished her senior year as the Orlando Sentinel Girls Athlete of the Year after helping the softball team wrap up an undefeated season as state champs, placing sixth in state weightlifting, and rounding out a four-year volleyball career.
The transition to college athletics hit a snag due to COVID-19, which forced the cancellation of softball last spring during what was her freshman season. Mudge spent much of 2020 lifting weights in the garage of former coaches and taking batting practice at a local park with a travel-ball coach.
“I grew a lot from the time COVID started to the start of this season,” Mudge said. “By the time I got to FSU in the fall, I had grown into a whole new player and person.”
Mudge bided her time while playing sparingly this spring and managing just 16 hits in the regular season, ACC tournament and regional tournament games. Patience and perseverance paid off as she heated up at the plate in time for the World Series and tallied 14 hits in eight games, including a 5-for-5 outing against Alabama on June. 7.
“I was just grateful for whatever opportunity I got throughout the season,” Mudge said. “[In the World Series] I was never really worried about getting a hit or making a big play or trying to put too much pressure on myself to perform. The little girl in me was just so happy to be there.”
This article originally appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email J.C. Carnahan at jcarnahan@orlandosentinel.com.
