TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (seminoles.com) – The 25th-ranked Florida State softball team returns home to host ACC opponent Virginia on senior weekend beginning Sunday, April 14 in an early doubleheader at 10 a.m. and noon. Monday’s matchup airs live on ESPNU at 7 p.m. with Adam Amin and softball legend Jennie Finch on the call.
Florida State faces Virginia for the 88th time beginning this weekend. The Seminoles (31-14, 10-2) lead the all-time series 70-17 and have not lost a regular-season series to Virginia since 1998. Florida State sits atop the conference with a 10-2 record and leads second-place and preseason favorite North Carolina by one game in the ACC.
For Monday night’s nationally-televised contest, FSU shakers will be passed out to fans in attendance.
“We know in facing (UVA pitcher) Melanie Mitchell we’ve got a tough pitcher ahead of us,” head coach Lonni Alameda said. “We’ve got to take advantage of getting the ball up and taking some good swings. As a ballclub they always swing the bats well. They’re very aggressive and scrappy. We’re hoping to keep the rain away and get all three in.”
Since both teams have been in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Seminoles are 44-9 against the Cavaliers. Florida State is 35-5 at home against UVA.
Junior Courtney Senas continues her hot pursuit of the single-season home run record at Florida State. The Wahiawa, Hawaii native has 13 long balls this season and is one shy of tying the school record of 14 home runs held by Yuruby Alicart in 2007.
Florida State is 23-7 at home this season and shows a spike in offensive production at JoAnne Graf Field. The Seminoles are hitting .329 at home this season and are led by Senas’ .382 batting average in games at JoAnne Graf Field.
Alameda is in her fifth season as the Seminole skipper and shows a 355-250-1 (.587) overall record in her 10 seasons as a head coach. At Florida State, Alameda is 198-92 (.683) and is approaching her 200th career win as a member of the Garnet and Gold. Surpassing the 200-win mark this season assures Alameda that she will average above 40 wins thus far in her Seminole coaching career.
The 2013 Seminoles are looking to become just the fourth team in school history to bat over .300. Florida State is currently hitting .309 and has not crossed the .300 threshold since batting a school-record .316 in 1995.
Senior Kirstin Austin is second on the Noles with a .351 batting average this season. Although she broke through last season by leading FSU in batting average in conference play, she has stepped her game up even more this season.
Austin has been a model of consistency for the Noles, owning the team’s longest hit streak this season at 14 games. She has seven multiple-hit games, highlighted by 3-for-4 days against Presbyterian and Maryland.
Virginia’s Marcy Bowdren leads the team with a .336 batting average and 21 RBIs. Karli Johnson has supplied most of the power with five home runs and is batting .274 on the season.
Mitchell has started 24 of the team’s 37 games this season, showing a 13-11 record with a 2.35 ERA. Mitchell has 202 strikeouts in 161 innings pitched and is holding the opposition to a .241 batting average.
