TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Looking to win its seventh-consecutive ACC regular season championship in 2019, No. 3 Florida State (25-2) begins conference play this weekend as the Seminoles host RV Notre Dame (15-7) for a three-game series at JoAnne Graf Field on March 15-17.
Due to rain in the forecast for this weekend, Friday’s game time has changed to 2:00 p.m., instead of the regularly scheduled 6:00 p.m. If rain completely washes out Friday’s game, there will be a doubleheader on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
The Seminoles are also celebrating their softball alumni throughout the weekend with various events, including on-field recognitions and the Legacy and Legends Dinner on Saturday night.
“Conference play is always a great challenge and the ACC continues to grow and get better every year,” said FSU head coach Lonni Alameda. “Playing a three-game series allows you to learn about the other team and yourself throughout the weekend, but also when you are playing a lot of the same teams every year, you might be facing a pitcher or a hitter for the fourth time and it is a great opportunity to see where we have improved from year to year.
“It is also great to be able to welcome back some of our alumni and celebrate the great history of Florida State softball. We definitely wouldn’t be where we are today without the foundation laid by those who have gone before us.”
Florida State leads the all-time series with Notre Dame, 16-6, dating back to 1991. Since the Irish joined the ACC in 2014, the Seminoles have posted a record of 13-4 against ND, including a 4-0 mark in the ACC Tournament.
The last time that Notre Dame came to Tallahassee on March 17-19, 2017, Florida State swept ND and outscored the Irish by a combined score of 28-0 on the three-game series with a pair of 6-0 wins on Friday and Saturday and a 16-0 final score on Sunday.
Florida State leads the nation with a .648 slugging percentage and is second in the NCAA with 44 home runs. That power comes from all over the lineup as 10 different players have at least two home runs, 11 different players have at least two doubles and the Seminoles have already hit 102 extra-base hits through the first 27 games of the season.
The Noles have earned the regular season conference title in each of the last six seasons and earned ACC Championships in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Florida State is unbeaten in its last 49 conference series, posting a 45-0-4 mark against ACC foes, including 36 sweeps. Over that span, FSU posted a 1-1 series split versus Virginia Tech (2014), at Notre Dame (2014), at Louisville (2015) and at Notre Dame (2016).
The Seminoles are 128-13 in their last 138 ACC regular season games (.908%) and last lost a conference series at Maryland on May 5-6, 2012.
All three games will be shown on ACC Network Extra and links for the broadcast, live stats and ticket information will be available the softball schedule page of Seminoles.com.
Meghan King Named Senior CLASS Award Candidate
Florida State redshirt senior Meghan King was selected as one of the top 30 candidates for the 2019 Senior CLASS Award in collegiate softball, as announced today by Premier Sports Management.
To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School ®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
The 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists later in the season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition.
The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the 2019 Women’s College World Series.
Florida State has had three student-athletes win the Senior CLASS Award, including Baseball’s James Ramsey in 2012 and Softball’s Lacey Waldrop (2015) and Alex Powers(2017).
Fans can listen to the FSU softball coaching staff, head coach Lonni Alameda and assistant coaches Travis Wilson and Craig Snider, 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.
Throughout 2018-19, the Seminoles will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of women’s intercollegiate athletics at Florida State and there are many events and reunions planned for all women’s sports. Head to www.seminoles.com/50th/ for more information that will be updated throughout the year.
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.
