Posted by NoleCC

I’ve been preaching pitching staff improvements for a while now, and yes the Noles heavily relied on Tiffany McDonald last year. She started 44% of the Seminoles’ games, appeared in 50% and that was after missing most of the first month of the season. But, the pitching staff isn’t the only place that the Seminoles need to improve in 2009 under first year coach Lonnie Alameda. They have to drastically improve on offense and defense too, if they want to improve on their 38-28 record in 2008.

On offense, the Seminole return only one .300 hitter. Carly Wynn batted .368, leading the team last year and was on base 45.2% of the time. She also picked up 14 stolen bases in 18 attempts. FSU should be thankful she didn’t graduated along with the other .300 hitters (star Whitney Buckmon, who was a speedster on the bases too and Brittany Osmon).  After that, the pickens are slim when looking at the returning players. Robin Ahrberg is the next highest at .277. Monica Montez hit the sophomore slump, batting only .222. And the freshman middle infield duo, Ashley Stager (.242) and Kristie McConn (.188) combined for 22% of the teams strike-outs. (Buckmon was right behind them at 36, but she tended make up for it). Hopefully a revamped coaching staff can bring the averages up, if not the pitching staff is going to have to throw gems each game.

On defense there is also room for a large improvement. As good as Whitney Buckmon was offensively, her fielding in the outfield left a lot to be desired, with only a .902 Fielding Percentage. The middle infield was young with McConn and Stager, but that still doesn’t excuse their combined .928 Fielding Percentage. Strong teams are strong up the middle. The Noles need to push that number well over the .940 mark combined. The hot corner also needs a drastic improvement from Michelle Snyder’s efforts at .903. Camille Garcia was used half as much as Snyder, but posted a .968 Fielding Percentage, and offensively, both were similar.

Will the new transfers and freshman make an impact where necessary? We’ll find out as the season unfolds, and if the pitching fails miserably it won’t matter how much of an improvement comes from the offense or defense.  Coach Alameda and her staff have plenty of rebuilding to do. FSU takes on Iowa in Austin, Texas on February 6 at 3:30 pm.