TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The 2020 season is finally here and Florida State softball will begin the year in Tallahassee as the No. 8 Seminoles host the second annual JoAnne Graf Classic on February 7-9. The Noles welcome No. 1 Alabama, RV North Carolina and Detroit Mercy for the three-day tournament in recognition of FSU and NFCA Hall of Fame Coach JoAnne Graf.
FSU will begin on Friday against North Carolina in a non-conference game at 3:30 p.m., and Coach Graf will throw out the ceremonial first pitch. The Noles will close out the day against Bama at 6:00 p.m. Florida State will play two games on Saturday, taking on Detroit Mercy at 12:30 p.m. and Alabama at 3:00 p.m. FSU and Detroit Mercy will play the final game of the JoAnne Graf Classic on Sunday at 11:00 a.m.
“So excited to jump into the deep end with Team 37 and get the season started,” said FSU head coach Lonni Alameda. “We love to open the season with the JoAnne Graf Classic to honor someone who has been so important to this program, this university, and the sport of softball as a whole. All three teams we are playing this weekend were in the NCAA Tournament in 2019 and we are looking forward to the challenge.”
Florida State holds a 73-26 advantage in the all-time series with North Carolina, dating back to 1984. The Seminoles are 22-4 in their last 26 games against the Tar Heels, including a 8-0 victory in the 2019 ACC Championship Game.
Alabama leads the all-time series with Florida State, 6-4, and the Noles and Tide have split each of the last four meetings in 2014 and 2018. It will be the first time that Alabama and FSU meet in Tallahassee, as the two schools have played nine times in Tuscaloosa and once at the USF Invitational in 1998.
The Seminoles are 3-0 all-time against Detroit Mercy, but the two schools haven’t met since 1991. Former Seminole, and current Canadian National Team member, Kaleigh Rafter played three seasons at Detroit Mercy before transferring to Florida State in 2009.
All Florida State games will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra and links for the broadcast, tickets and live stats will be available on the softball schedule page of Seminoles.com.
Fans can listen to the FSU softball coaching staff, head coach Lonni Alameda and assistant coaches Travis Wilson and Troy Cameron, on their weekly podcast: Coaches and Coffee – The FSU Softball Podcast. Each week, the coaches talk about the current state of the Seminole softball team, chat about NCAA softball from around the country, and have a lot of fun along the way. The podcast can be found on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, or directly at our website – fsusoftballpodcast.wordpress.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.
