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Lonni Alameda Earns Win No. 600 As FSU Sweeps UNF

Lonni Alameda Earns Win No. 600 As FSU Sweeps UNF
Posted at 11:54 PM, Mar 10, 2018
and last updated 2018-03-10 23:54:00-05

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In her 10th season at Florida State and 15th as a head coach in Division I softball, Lonni Alameda earned win No. 600 on Saturday as No. 15 Florida State (18-6) earned a pair of wins over North Florida (13-11) in a doubleheader at the UNF Softball Complex. The Seminoles shutout the Ospreys 13-0 in game one, before earning a 9-6 victory in game two.

Alameda is now 600-302-2 in her head coaching career, including a 443-144-1 mark at the helm of Florida State. She is averaging 48 wins per year at FSU and has been named the ACC Coach of the Year in each of the last five seasons.

“I love what I do,” said Alameda. “That’s what makes this easy to pour my life into every day. Working with a great staff and so many amazing student-athletes makes it fun and so enjoyable to compete every season and grow the game. I don’t really track these things and didn’t really know this was coming up, but this is more of an accomplishment for the players on the field. Today, we were scrappy and competitive in both games and worked through some challenging situations. Looking forward to a little break before ACCs start next weekend.”

Lonni Alameda Earns Win No. 600 As FSU Sweeps UNF

Game 1: No. 15 Florida State 13, North Florida 0
The Seminoles threatened in the top of the first inning as Jessie Warren drew a one-out walk and Sydney Sherrill followed with an infield single. Carsyn Gordon hit a single to right, but the throw home by UNF’s Ashley Niesman retired Warren at the plate to keep the Noles off the board in the first.

Florida State opened the scoring in the second inning as Cali Harrod led off by reaching on an Osprey throwing error. Anna Shelnutt was hit by a pitch and Sherrill gave the Noles a 1-0 lead with a double to center. Gordon followed with an RBI groundout, but it was enough to score Shelnutt to make it 2-0 FSU.

Dani Morgan continued the inning with a two-out walk and another UNF error on a batted ball by Elizabeth Mason allowed two more runs to score for a 4-0 lead.

FSU starting pitcher Kylee Hanson did not allow a base hit until the bottom of the third inning when Rindy Bryant hit a one-out double to right center. It snapped a streak of 12.1 consecutive innings by the Florida State pitching staff of not allowing a runner to reach second base. The inning quickly ended as the next batter flew out to right, but Bryant did not stay on the base, which resulted in an easy 9-4-6 inning-ending double play.

The Seminoles added two more in the fourth inning as Harrod singled to left and scored on a triple to right center by Shelnutt. Sherrill posted her third hit of the day, driving an RBI single through the right side to make it 6-0 Florida State. FSU added a solo home run in the top of the sixth by Shelnutt.

Hanson was replaced in the circle to start the UNF sixth inning by Cassidy Davis. The redshirt senior improved to 9-3 on the season, tossing 5.0 scoreless innings with just one hit, two walks and five strikeouts.

The Seminoles tacked on six more runs in the seventh inning for the 13-0 final score. Morgan led off with a check-swing single to third base and Mason followed with a towering home run to left field. Sabrina Stutsman walked and was pinch-run for by Deja Bush, and Bush scored on RBI double by Shelnutt. Back-to-back RBI doubles by Sherrill and Gordon, along with another UNF error scored the final three runs of the game.

Davis closed out the game with a perfect seventh inning, retiring all six batters she faced on the afternoon.

Game 2: No. 15 Florida State 9, North Florida 6
Florida State used crafty baserunning to take a quick 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning in game two. Harrod led off with a single and Gordon followed with a hit-by-pitch. The pair of them executed a double steal and Harrod scored on a UNF throwing error. A fielder’s choice off the bat of Shelnutt started with Gordon getting in a rundown between third and home, then Mason got in a run down between second and third. That cycle repeated for both runners before Gordon was able to score on the play for the second run of the game.

UNF nearly scored in the bottom of the first as Navia Penrod led off with a single and moved up to second on a groundout. A single to left by Dominica Cocuzza was fielded by Morgan in left and the sophomore fired home to retire Penrod at the plate to end the inning.

Korina Rosario opened the FSU second inning with a walk and immediately stole second base. Harrod drove an RBI single up the middle to make it a 3-0 Seminole lead. Shelnutt had a single to start the third inning and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Davis.

Meghan King was extremely efficient in the circle for the Seminoles, needing just 20 pitches to record the first 10 outs of the game, including a perfect three-pitch inning in the second inning.

The Ospreys scored their first run of the game in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI double by Alex Arciola. It snapped a streak of 21.1 innings without allowing a run for the FSU pitching staff.

Florida State scored two more in the top of the fifth, sparked by a leadoff double by Shelnutt. Davis singled up the middle to drive in a run and Benavides added the second run on a sacrifice fly to right. Sherrill added a solo home run in the sixth and a RBI double by Morgan scored Mason, who doubled earlier in the inning for an 8-1 lead for the Noles.

Savanna Copeland replaced King in the circle for the bottom of the sixth. King (8-3) finished with 5.0 inning pitched with five hits, one run and zero walks allowed, along with three strikeouts.

UNF scored a pair of runs in the sixth as the first three batters reached base. A leadoff walk and a single was converted into runs with a two-RBI double by Cocuzza. Copeland got out of the inning with a pop out and a pair of strikeouts.

The Noles scored again in the top of the seventh to make it a 9-3 game. Harrod drew a two-out walk and stole second base for her fourth SB of the game. It marked the first four-SB game since Morgan Klaevemann against Nebraska on February 17, 2017. Gordon hit an RBI double to center to finish the FSU scoring.

The Ospreys rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh, before falling 9-6. The UNF leadoff batter was hit by a pitch and the Ospreys followed with a double and an infield single to load the bases. A pair of RBI infield groundouts cut the FSU lead to 9-5, and Cocuzza singled to right to score another run, but was thrown out trying to stretch a double to end the game.

Copeland allowed five runs on five hits over 2.0 innings with one walk and two strikeouts in her relief appearance.

The Seminoles return home to open up ACC play against Virginia Tech on March 16-18. Florida State will celebrate Alumni Weekend and tickets are available for the second annual Legends and Legacy Dinner on March 17. Admission is free for all home regular season games and links for live stats and FSU Softball Radio will be on the softball schedule page of Seminoles.com.

Follow Florida State softball on Twitter (@FSU_Softball) and Instagram (fsusoftball), and like our Facebook page (Facebook.com/FSUsoftball) to keep up to date with everything about Seminole softball.