OKLAHOMA CITY -- As observers of team sports, a mistake we frequently make is focusing far too much on the individual hero.

We obsess about the player who hits the winning shot. The defender who makes the game-saving tackle. The coach who makes the brilliant decision at the perfect moment.

The flaw with that mindset, of course, is that those players and coaches never do it alone. While they certainly deserve credit for coming through in the big moment, it often is their teammates who put them in position to succeed. Who create the scenarios that make their heroics possible.

That lesson could not have been more apparent than during Florida State’s 1-0 victory over Washington in Monday night’s opening game of the WCWS Championship Series.

A 1-0 win in softball or baseball typically makes for two obvious heroes: The pitcher responsible for throwing the shutout, and the hitter responsible for generating the winning run.

On this night, those roles would be played by Meghan King and Anna Shelnutt.

King certainly was worthy of the praise. She scattered five hits and two walks in seven innings and repeatedly shut down Washington’s scoring chances.

Shelnutt deserved props as well. If not for her solo home run in the sixth inning, King and Huskies pitcher Gabbie Plain might still be battling it out before a crowd of 8,152 here at Hall of Fame Stadium.

When Shelnutt came to the plate in the sixth, the Seminoles had to be wondering when they would ever be able to break through. One inning earlier, they stranded a runner at third base. The inning before that, they had the bases loaded and came up empty. And one inning before that, they had a runner at third base with no outs and failed to score.

FSU went 0-for-9 Monday with runners in scoring position. So, there is no way to overstate the importance of Shelnutt's solo home run.

At the same time, anyone who watched that game -- or saw the highlights on social media or ESPN -- knows that the Seminoles’ victory also wouldn’t have been possible without Jessie Warren’s incredible defensive play in the bottom of the seventh inning.

With a runner on first base and the Huskies trailing by just one run, Washington outfielder Trysten Melhart attempted to drag a bunt down the first-base line. If it had been successful, she at the very least would have advanced a runner into scoring position with one out. There also was a chance she could have reached base safely as well, which would have put the possible winning run at first with no outs.

Instead, Warren made the play of a lifetime. The Seminoles’ star third baseman saw the bunt coming, sprinted toward home and then dove to her left and made a miraculous catch before the ball could hit the dirt. She then fired to first base to record the double play.

“Everyone looks at her offensive production, and it is amazing,” FSU coach Lonni Alameda said, in reference to Warren's school and conference home-run records. “And her success is amazing. But she plays third base like a shortstop. She makes those plays all the time. She loves playing the game, so we've seen her do that a bunch of times. So it was, you know, big-time players make big-time plays in big moments.”

And the contributions didn’t end there.

While Warren’s seventh-inning stop is the one that will be remembered for years -- especially if the Seminoles go on to win the national championship -- it should be noted that FSU’s entire defense delivered a nice performance Monday night. Playing on the biggest stage in their sport for the first time in school history, the Seminoles committed zero errors, while Washington was credited with two.

FSU’s infielders made several nifty plays on the run, the outfielders tracked down every fly ball, and Shelnutt was outstanding behind the plate.

And while the Seminoles’ lineup didn’t produce much -- five hits and three walks -- they did a nice job of working counts and putting pressure on the Huskies’ star pitcher. Plain threw 122 pitches on Monday night. In her last start, against No. 1 Oregon, Plain threw 95 pitches in six shutout innings. In her start before that, she threw 80 pitches in 5 2/3 shutout innings.

Shelnutt said it was no coincidence that her big hit came late in the game as Plain’s pitch count rose.

“We made her work,” Shelnutt said. “We made her throw a lot of balls. And I think everybody battling earlier in the game is what got me that one pitch that I could drive out. It was the person that had her 3-2 and was battling five at-bats before. It wore her down to where she would throw me one that I could get a hit for my team.”

When the game ended Monday night, the scoreboard appeared to tell a simple story.

Seminoles 1, Huskies 0.

There was a huge hit from a cleanup hitter. A dominating performance from an ace pitcher. It doesn't get any simpler than that.

But the truth is there was so much more.

King couldn’t have done what she did without the dynamite defense behind her. Shelnutt probably doesn’t get a pitch she can drive over the center-field wall without her teammates pushing up Plain’s pitch count.

And who knows what happens if Warren can’t come up with her diving grab?

The Seminoles desperately needed every one of those contributions to earn this 1-0 victory. Every last one of them.

If they’re going to knock off the Huskies again and claim a national championship, they’ll likely need all of them again -- whether they'll all be recognized or not.

Contact Warchant managing editor Ira Schoffel at ira@warchant.com and follow @IraSchoffel on Twitter.