All too often I’m pessimistic about FSU’s chance in the NCAA Baseball Tournament.  Because my beloved Mets are SO awful this season, I’m going to make sure I stay ultra-positive for my other favorite team, alma-mater Florida State. Sure, the Noles are flawed, but why can’t they finally break through the Regional and Super Regional to earn a trip to Omaha, and maybe win the first title for Mike Martin?

Why FSU will win the Regional in Tallahassee this weekend:

It’s at Dick Howser Stadium - The Noles play well at home, and beat Florida at Dick Howser this season. That’s big, since the Gators are the #2 seed in the regional.

Buster Posey - He’s all everything, and potentially the #1 draft pick in the Major League Baseball draft.  He can pitch, catch, hit and play the field. What else can anyone say? Unless he totally disappears this weekend, which is highly unlikely, he’ll put the Noles over the top.

FSU’s starting pitching - Okay, so they aren’t perfect, but they are solid. The pitching staff as a whole has been pretty good for FSU, and certainly seem more stable than any staff I can remember recently.

Superfan - Nole fans on the 1st base side know what I’m talkin’ about.

So what do you guys think? Why will the Seminoles prevail this weekend? Leave me some thoughts and comments.

Hey everyone, I’ll have some more thoughts tomorrow. It was a nice long weekend, but for now here’s a poll. Leave your thoughts about the upcoming regional, which features FSU, Florida, Bucknell and Tulane.

 Loading …

Uh oh.

Remember FSU TE Charlie Graham, who was trying to make a comeback with the team after having to head to JUCO? Scott Carter has the scoop, and Graham is facing a misdemeanor charge of unlawfully discharging a firearm within city limits.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

The Noles defeated Wake Forest, 8-3 yesterday in opening round play. Buster Posey continued to be THE man for the Noles, and in the nation by hitting two home runs in the game.

So how far are these Noles going to go? Leave some thoughts in the comments.

From the St Pete Times yesterday:

“We have a basketball coach right now, Leonard Hamilton, that does an excellent job; won 20 basketball games the last three seasons, but we haven’t been to the NCAA Tournament. Every kid that’s played for Leonard Hamilton (and finished his eligibility) has graduated. Now you win 20 ball games, you graduate every one of your kids, you do the right things for the university, you present the right image and he’s very involved in the community, I kind of don’t give a damn if we go to the NCAA Tournament. I’d love to go, don’t misunderstand what I’m saying, but what more can you ask?

“And quite frankly, when we shook hands and asked him to come to Florida State, he did what he said and we did what we said, and so some selection committee didn’t do it.”

Sorry TK, but there are many fans, myself included, that do give a damn about FSU making the NCAA tournament. I’m very sure the players do as well.

By Bill Kristoph

The 2008 FSU Softball season turned out to be what most fans expected, good by many standards, mediocre by FSU standards. It’s been the same story for a couple of years (basically Tiffany McDonald’s entire career at FSU), if the Seminole offense wakes up, then the Noles win. All too often though, the FSU bats are seemingly dead, or they die at the wrong time. Fight, Fight, Fight for F-S-U goes the fight song, but the Noles didn’t show it very often. When trailing after 4 innings were 3-24, after 5 innings they were 3-22 and after 6 innings, 0-21.

The biggest issue of the 2008 season though, was the pitching staff behind TMac. Hopefully local Tallahassee talent Sarah Hamilton picks up the pace next year, after a solid, but inconsistent, debut and Terese Gober rebounds from an ugly sophomore slump. It would be nice to see Melissa May return to the form of her first two years too, when she was a solid lefty for the Noles.  Who’s to blame for the downright mediocre pitching performance? For now, the finger has to be pointed at Barbara Sherwood, not directly due to her coaching, but maybe due to 2008 being a “getting to know each other” season for her and the pitching staff. Casey Hunter had similar ups and downs her senior season when the Noles changed pitching coaches too.

On the offensive side, the slumps spilled over to Monica Montez too, who batted 90 points lower than her ACC Freshman of the Year performance in 2007.  Basically, Brittany Osmon, Whitney Buckmon and Carly Wynn carried the team.  Wynn (pictured above) is the only one of those returning. She’ll be the only .300 hitter returning from the 2008 Seminoles.

The 2008 season was, to quote Dennis Green, “Exactly what we though they were.”

Looking ahead to 2009:

On the bright side, the middle of the infield has a year under its belt. Freshmen Kristie McConn and Ashley Stager need to step up next season in the field and at the plate.  Carly Wynn returns with a glove that gets everything in the outfield, a great bat, and good speed on the bases. Robin Ahrberg and Jessica Gilmore will anchor home plate again, splitting duties at catcher and in Ahrberg’s case, providing some pop in the batter’s box. And, if Allison Collins can improve her consistency at the plate, her power will be welcome in the lineup at designated player, while she waits behind Ahberg and Gilmore at catcher.

Most importantly though, between now and the start of the 2009 season let’s hope the Noles find some fight. Maybe a viewing of 300 is in order for the team?

Vote and comment (they had a pretty good weekend against N.C. State, a very solid ball club).

 Loading …

The 2008 Seminole Softball  ended over the weekend at the Tuscaloosa Regional. The Noles managed a victory over Chattanooga, but lost to Jacksonville State twice, 5-4 and 10-1. Pitching was the story again for the Noles. Tiffany McDonald was solid in the Game 1 loss to Jacksonville State and she struck out 17 in the extra inning victory over Chattanooga.  The Noles couldn’t put it together in the 10-1 loss though. The story was the same all season, if McDonald wasn’t out there, the Seminoles were iffy on the mound, at best.

I’ll weigh in tomorrow with thoughts about the overall season.

Poll time… is it that time of year when Martin tightens up and the Noles flush themselves down the toilet even though they’re one of the best teams in the country? Vote now, and comment!

 Loading …

Update: This makes me worry… “FSU, ranked 190th nationally in fielding percentage, didn’t commit any errors. But the Seminoles got into trouble with several mental mistakes, including a pair in N.C. State’s four-run seventh inning that gave the Wolfpack a 7-2 lead.”