{"id":6892,"date":"2023-06-05T13:34:02","date_gmt":"2023-06-05T18:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=6892"},"modified":"2023-06-05T13:34:02","modified_gmt":"2023-06-05T18:34:02","slug":"corey-clark-florida-states-devyn-flaherty-feeling-right-at-home-at-world-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/corey-clark-florida-states-devyn-flaherty-feeling-right-at-home-at-world-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Corey Clark: Florida State\u2019s Devyn Flaherty feeling right at home at World Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

She was in the middle of two Florida State rallies in Saturday night\u2019s win over Washington. She had two hits, a stolen base and scored two runs in the 3-1 victory.<\/p>\n

And she also recorded the final out at second base after shortstop Josie Muffley<\/strong><\/a> threw back to her after Muffley\u2019s memorable, leaping snag<\/a> <\/strong>in the seventh inning. <\/p>\n

Which is kind of how Devyn Flaherty<\/a><\/strong> envisioned things back on March 13. <\/p>\n

On the Seminoles\u2019 way between games in Stillwater and Norman, the team stopped at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, the site of the Women\u2019s College World Series, to walk around the facility. <\/p>\n

Flaherty essentially told her teammates and coaches, \u201cNah, I\u2019m good.\u201d Because she didn\u2019t want to step foot on that field again until they earned their way there.<\/p>\n

In 2023, she didn\u2019t want to take anything for granted. Not after what happened to Florida State in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stayed kind of off to the side,\u201d Flaherty recalled in an interview with Warchant on Sunday. \u201cI\u2019m still with them. I\u2019m just not on the field. \u2026 I kind of think (FSU head coach Lonni Alameda) thought it was funny in the moment, but going back to last year we talked a lot about how we weren\u2019t as much process-oriented. We kind of let some things slide under the rug leadership-wise because we were winning so many games and we were so good.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you turn it around this year, and we\u2019ve done everything we could to be in every single moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flaherty is hitting .327 and has a team-best .448 on-base percentage. She also leads the Seminoles with 30 stolen bases (in 31 attempts) and has committed just eight errors this season at second base. She\u2019s a vital cog for the Florida State softball team. <\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not just about the production. <\/p>\n

Above all else, Flaherty is a competitor. And a leader. <\/p>\n

And she\u2019s one of the heartbeats of the Florida State softball program. That\u2019s as important, if not more so, than the steals and the hits. <\/p>\n

\u201cLeadership is really, really hard to do,\u201d head coach Lonni Alameda said. \u201cI can\u2019t tell you how many times we\u2019ve been in the office talking about how we handle ourselves on the field after failure. She\u2019s a hugely competitive player. To see her thrive in these moments, not get down on frustration of outcome, but stay in it, I think the team recognizes that. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s true leadership. She\u2019s done a really good job of keeping us going.\u201d<\/p>\n

*** SPECIAL OFFER: Get a year\u2019s subscription to Warchant for 50 percent off!<\/a> ***<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Sunday, these comments were brought up to Flaherty. <\/p>\n

What exactly did her coach mean when she was talking about handling failure?<\/p>\n

\u201cSince I\u2019ve been here, I\u2019ve kind of been a leader on the field and a lot of people have looked to me to have the right reaction and have the team-first mentality all the time,\u201d Flaherty. \u201cAnd obviously, I\u2019m competitive and I want to win, and do well, and want to help my team in the big situations. So, just being able to stay composed and no matter what\u2019s going on with me be the leader my team needs me to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause when stuff hits the fan, that\u2019s who\u2019s going to be looked to. And how am I going to handle it? Because then it kind of bleeds onto how the rest of the team is going to handle it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flaherty says she has always been competitive. It\u2019s part of her nature. Whether she was terrorizing defenses in travel softball or on the soccer field \u2014 where she was a college recruit as well \u2014 Flaherty has always been like this. <\/p>\n

Fiery and fierce. <\/p>\n

But not dirty! <\/p>\n

She knows how it might have looked, especially in slow-motion replay, when she tagged Oklahoma State\u2019s Kiley Naomi smack in the face on a play at second base in Game 1 of the WCWS, but her intent wasn\u2019t to hurt anyone. It was to make a play. For her team. Because that\u2019s pretty much all Flaherty cares about. <\/p>\n

That was the only thing on her mind. <\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think Kiley was going to slide because, in my opinion, she was just pretty out,\u201d Flaherty said. \u201cBut Kiley is a great baserunner and a hard player, and I should have known she was going to slide. I went for her stomach, and then she slid \u2026 and it obviously ended up being more of a bang-bang play than I otherwise would have thought. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut she was great about it. In the moment, I didn\u2019t realize how hard I tagged her. But I went back and said, \u2018Hey, sorry.\u2019 And she said don\u2019t even worry about it at all. We\u2019ve played each other a lot, and I think we both know there was no ill will intended there. Just playing hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\n

I\u2019m not entirely sure the Oklahoma State player was trying to hear it in the moment , but did think it was cool that Devyn Flaherty apologized for her hard tag at second earlier in the game. It was a clean play, but I\u2019m sure it wasn\u2019t fun being on the receiving end. pic.twitter.com\/wtncR9aTbH<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Ira Schoffel (@IraSchoffel) June 2, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/span>\n<\/div>\n

Playing hard is a constant for Flaherty, of course. <\/p>\n

She has competed in 10 WCWS games so far in her career. She\u2019s guaranteed of playing in at least two more, starting tonight at 7 p.m. against Tennessee. And, she hopes, a few more after that as well.<\/p>\n

And while the junior certainly wants to come back to Tallahassee with a title \u2014 that\u2019s her No. 1 goal, her only goal really \u2014 she did say she is allowing herself to appreciate the moment. And the stage. <\/p>\n

Because as she knows all too well, after FSU got upset in a home regional last year, there\u2019s no guarantee it will happen again. <\/p>\n

But unlike the trip to this same stadium in early March, Flaherty knows and appreciates that when she takes the field tonight, with a spot in the championship finals on the line, her and her teammates have earned their way there. <\/p>\n

Which is precisely why she stayed off of it back in March. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just super cool to be here,\u201d Flaherty said. \u201cBecause we know how hard it is. We work every single day for this. So, just for softball the sport, to see how much it\u2019s grown, it\u2019s just awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Talk about this story with other die-hard FSU football fans on the Tribal Council.<\/strong><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

The post Corey Clark: Florida State\u2019s Devyn Flaherty feeling right at home at World Series<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

She was in the middle of two Florida State rallies in Saturday night\u2019s win over…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6892\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}