Posted by NoleCC

Yes I know that FSU Softball has another regular season series next weekend at Boston College, however I’ll be on my honeymoon, so not including next weekend, here are my grades, thoughts, etc. on the 2009 Seminole Softball season. Before I hand out the grades, thanks to Jessica Gilmore, Michelle Snyder and Kaleigh Rafter the FSU 2009 Senior Class. I enjoyed watching all 3 play while here at FSU, and wish them the best in the future. Gimore, specifically, was one of my favorites thanks to the creative eye black she sported.

Offense – B

With the addition of Kaleigh Rafter, and Ashley Stager’s new found ability to violate a softball, the Seminole offense got things going in the right direction. Team Captain Carly Wynn and freshman, Shayla Jackson both hit over .300 in addition to Rafter and Stager. Monica Montez saw a bit of a resurgance too, batting .282 on the season. An overall .271 team batting average, with some pop behind it in 28 home runs and nearly an 80% stolen base success rate led to the best offense FSU has seen 2007, and was a vast improvement over last year’s stuck in the mud offering.

On the flip side of that, there is still room for improvement if FSU wants to make it to Oklahoma City on a regular basis. The Noles need a more productive offense from the back half of their order, 6-9 which hovered around .220 all season long and couldn’t provide a spark if the top part of the order wasn’t hitting. I don’t care which way the team rolls in the future, but either the back end of the order needs some more pop, or a bunch of speed, neither of which the 2009 edition had.

Defense – B

The Noles desperately needed to solidify the middle of the field and Kristie McConn and Ashley Stager both improved over their 2008 efforts. Kaleigh Rafter behind the plate was also a nice addition for the Noles. However, FSU continued to struggle at times with stupid mental mistakes in the outfield, and physical errors at the corners (10 errors by Snyder at 3B, 9 by Joseph at 1B).  Physical errors I can forgive to a point, they’re going to happen thanks to a bad bounce and thanks to subpar playing conditions at other schools. The mental errors, although getting better throughout the season, need to be corrected from the start of a season. Mental errors lose tight ballgames.

Pitching – A-

Terese Gober (1.26 ERA, 183K, 172.1 IP) and Sarah Hamilton (0.95 ERA, 234 K, 154.1 IP) were quite the dynamic duo this season. You can annoint Hamilton as the strikeout queen, and luck for Seminole fans she’s here for two more years. Gober responded well this year, her junior season, and should be even better next season. Overall the future of the pitching staff looks bright. Both of them are driving the A grade here, since Lauren Varsalona had a rough time adjusting to D-I.

The only reason I’m not ready to grade the pitching staff to an A is because there is still room for improvement, and because Varsalona needs to pick it up.

Coaching – A-

Head Coach Lonnie Alameda did a wonderful job patrolling JoAnne Graf Field in her first season at the helm. The team immediately had a better energy than the 2008 version. I liked watching Coach Alameda’s aggresive style on the basepaths, because while it was more aggressive than Coach Graf’s, it was also more controlled. I also thought Alameda’s ability to rearrange the lineup (I still love Wynn batting #2 behind Jackson when that’s clicking) showed creativity that I didn’t know was coming to the team. The staff did a wonderful job in their first season, in the future we’ll get to see how good or bad they do as they bring in their own recruited players. For now though, it’s a solid A-. Good job coaches.

Overall 2009 Grade – B+

I could easily give the team an A because I wasn’t expecting a lot from them this season, in fact I was expecting a C+ team. That wouldn’t be fair though, and overall I think this is a solid B+ team, just shy of that A-.  The offense, defense and pitching can all improve a bit and attain a higher grade. The youth of this team and the B+ bode well for next season. Things are headed in the right direction at the moment, hopefully for Seminole fans that direction will continue.

2009 ScalpEm.com Team MVP – Kaleigh Rafter (pictured above)

I could have picked either pitcher for the Noles, Sarah Hamilton or Terese Gober. Both of them are impressive, and I’d probably give the nod to Hamilton over Gober right now, thanks to the better stat line. But in the end, I think both of those impressive pitchers would have fallen victim to “Tiffany McDonald Syndrome” (aka, No Run Support) had Kaleigh Rafter’s bat not been around to put the runs on the board. Without Rafter in the 2009 Nole lineup, the team would not be 38-13, would not be competitive with the best of the best and would not have a good shot to pull out the ACC Tournament in a couple of weeks. Rafter is a gritty player, that just LOOKS like a ballplayer. I don’t know how else to describe it. She played much of the season with a broken wrist, and put fear in opposing pitchers hearts. Congrats to Kaleigh Rafter on a terrific season!