Madi Balk goes from Lancaster to Women’s College World Series championship series

This year, she is part of Florida State’s run to the NCAA Softball Women’s College World Series best-of-three championship series against No. 1 Oklahoma. Game 1 is at 8 p.m. Wednesday on ESPN.

The Sooners are two-time defending national champions and have won an NCAA record 51 consecutive games. Florida State won the championship in 2018 and faced Oklahoma in the 2021 final.

“It’s definitely a point of pride for Madi to be playing at this level and on this stage,” Lancaster coach Kelly Ambrose told The News. “The Women’s College World Series is really the pinnacle of softball, and is considered the Super Bowl of our sport. It’s amazing and rewarding to know that someone who was walking the halls of Lancaster High School a year ago and competing on the field behind our school is now on the biggest stage in our game vying for the national championship.

“For someone to come up through the program and through our local youth leagues and end up on one of the final two teams playing in the WCWS is remarkable.”

Given the Seminoles deep pitching staff, Balk has seen limited action as a freshman. She has appeared in eight games with three starts and has a 1-0 record with a 2.62 earned run average. In eight innings, she struck out eight and walked 12. Her first collegiate appearance came against Florida A&M on Feb. 14 and she earned her first win in relief against Colgate on March 3.

Balk took a unique step to get noticed by elite college coaches. She played for a Tennessee-based travel team while living in Western New York. The TN Fury Premier, led by Patrick Moyer, has players from seven states. They host team events in the fall and spring and then players travel to tournaments while being expected to keep their own routines in their hometowns. The schedule includes seven consecutive weekends of events in the summer. She also worked with personal pitching coaches and trainers.

Balk injured her forearm in the summer of 2021, costing her valuable exposure opportunities. She stayed as engaged as possible with her travel team and went about networking with coaches.

Among them was Florida State coach Lonni Alameda, who had indicated an interest in watching Balk pitch before she had shut down and before Alameda went to the Tokyo Olympics.

Balk saw Alameda at the Perfect Game national event in California in late July, and made her a promise.

“I went up and introduced myself, met her and told her I was going to wow her the next time I saw her and when I was healthy again,” Balk told The News after she committed in November 2021. “The end of September, I went down there and she said I wowed her. She said she was so impressed that I could say I was going to do it and then do it. I went for my official visit in mid-November, and I absolutely fell in love with the place.”

Balk was the All-Western New York Pitcher of the Year in 2022 and played in the Premier Girls Fastpitch All-American Game.

As a senior, she was dominant from start to finish for the Legends with a 0.67 ERA in 145.1 innings, and tallied a school-record 298 strikeouts. Opponents hit just 0.096 against her as Lancaster won the Class AA sectional title and reached the state semifinals.

For her high school career, Balk had a 0.69 ERA with 524 strikeouts in 241.3 innings pitched. At the plate, Balk hit .380 and had 27 hits to finish as a career .397 hitter.

“There’s no doubt her story is an inspiration to young girls locally, showing them that they can achieve their dreams with dedication and hard work,” Ambrose said. “Coming from Lancaster and the WNY area to play at that level is a challenge, and her ability to do so speaks to the emergence of high-level softball in this area and how dedicated so many people are across WNY to developing young talent. She may be the first local player to make it this far, but she hopefully won’t be the last.”