May 4, 2019
Lonni Alameda Earns ACC Win No. 200 In Victory At Syracuse
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — FSU softball head coach Lonni Alameda passed another impressive coaching milestone on Saturday as she posted her 200th win in ACC play as No. 5 Florida State (47-8, 18-5 ACC) earned a 9-1 victory in five innings on the road at Syracuse (21-30, 8-15 ACC).
Overall, Alameda has a record of 200-47 in ACC play in her 11 seasons at Florida State, trailing only UNC’s Donna Papa in all-time conference wins as Papa has amassed a 256-156 record in her 28 years at North Carolina.
“Outstanding say at the plate from our hitters, and Alexa Romero is a tough pitcher,” said Alameda. “We made some really good mid-game adjustments, which is huge. I thought Mak and Kat combined for a good game in the circle for us today.
“As for the 200 wins, there are players that wore this jersey before us and we try to carry on the pride and values of the foundation they built. It is so cool to see the program continue to grow and believe in the little things, as those are what carries you to victories, and I’m really proud of that.”
Carsyn Gordon put the Noles on the board with a two-out solo home run in the top of the third inning. It was the 35th home run of her career, moving her into a tie with Alex Powers (2014-17) for fourth in FSU history.
Sydney Sherrill continued the inning with a double to center and scored on an RBI triple by Elizabeth Mason, her second triple of the season.
Syracuse scored an unearned run in the bottom of the fourth to cut the lead to 2-1. Alicia Hansen reached on an FSU error and later scored on a two-out RBI single by Neli Casares-Maher.
The Seminoles broke the game open in the top of the fifth, plating seven runs as 11 different batters came to the plate in the inning. Anna Shelnutt led off the frame with a solo home run and back-to-back walks to Cali Harrod and Gordon put runners on first and second with nobody out.
Sherrill hit her second double of the game to right field to drive in a run, marking the ninth game of her career that she has hit two doubles in a game, increasing her career total to 45. Sherrill moved into a tie with Carly Wynn (2007-10) for fourth all-time in FSU doubles history.
Dani Morgan made it 5-1 Noles with a sacrifice fly to right and Cassidy Davis hit a two-run home run to right field for her ninth HR of the season. The inning continued as Makinzy Herzog hit a double to right field and Zoe Casas hit an infield single.
Deja Bush entered to pinch run for Casas and stole second base. Shelnutt posted her second hit of the inning on an infield RBI single and a Syracuse error allowed another run to score on the play, extending the FSU lead to 9-1.
Kathryn Sandercock entered to pitch the bottom of the fifth, replacing Herzog in the circle. Herzog improved to (9-2) on the season, allowing just two hits over 4.0 innings with one unearned run, zero walks and two strikeouts.
The Orange placed the first two batters of the bottom of the fifth on base with an FSU error and a single, and they moved to second and third with nobody out on a wild pitch. Sandercock battled back with a strikeout and induced a groundout and a fly out to end the game.
The Seminoles and Orange will close out the series on Sunday, May 5 with a game at 12:00 p.m., which will air on ACC Network Extra. Links for the broadcast 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 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.
