With strong nucleus returning, FSU Softball will look to make another run in 2024

After returning to a warm welcome back home in Tallahassee on Friday afternoon, Florida State softball coach Lonni Alameda and her staff likely will take a few moments to decompress after another stellar season.

The Seminoles have been going non-stop for months, finishing off a 58-11 season with another trip to the Women’s College World Series, where FSU finished as the national runner-up to Oklahoma for the second time in three years.

But it undoubtedly will be a very brief break for Florida State’s coaches, as they begin looking to the future and Team 41.

Alameda said that process begins by reflecting on everything that happened with Team 40 this season and postseason, and discussing any big-picture adjustments that might be needed for the future.

“We do a good job of dissecting the season,” she said. “We’ll go through it, what was good, what wasn’t good, how can we be better, how do we get better. How do we put that game plan into place September, October, November.”

The biggest thing the Seminoles will need to do, obviously, is figure out how to replace some of what senior Kathryn Sandercock gave them. Not only was Sandercock a major team leader, but she was one of the best pitchers in the country and one of the all-time greats in program history.

She finished this year at 28-4 with 10 saves, and she logged more innings in the circle (193.0) than the next three pitchers on the roster combined.

“Replacing the innings that Kat gave us will be tough,” Alameda said after her team fell to No. 1 Oklahoma in the WCWS Championship Series. “Replacing what Mack [Leonard] gave us towards the end is going to be tough. We’re going to have some rookies. It’s going to take some time to get people in experienced situations.”

Leonard, who also played first base, pitched sparingly early in the year but was a major force down the stretch. Without her and Sandercock, the Seminoles’ top pitching option going into the offseason will be rising sophomore Makenna Reid, who produced an outstanding freshman campaign.

In 43 appearances, Reid posted a 13-0 record with a 0.97 ERA and six saves. But she only started four games and finished with 79 1/3 innings pitched. The Seminoles have a few other arms on the roster, including rising senior Allison Royalty (8-1, 2.23 ERA), and they landed highly rated two-way prospect Ashtyn Dantley in their No. 3-rated 2023 signing class.

But it seems likely that Alameda will turn to the transfer portal to add some experienced talent.

“You look at what our returning pitching staff is right now, it’s going to be very young,” she said. “We have some offense coming back, they’ll know what this feeling is like, but we’ll have to endure figuring out what the pitching staff can do. … The circle is probably one of the biggest things we really have to figure out.”

*ALSO SEE: Ira Schoffel: A masterpiece of a season for FSU Softball’s Team 40

Florida State does return a strong nucleus on offense and defense, led by second baseman Devyn Flaherty, left fielder Kaley Mudge, third baseman Kalei Harding, catcher Michaela Edenfield, center fielder Jahni Kerr, and outfielders Katie Dack and Hallie Wacaser.

Kerr (.356), Mudge (.346), Flaherty (.317), Harding (.311) and Wacaser (.304) actually finished with the five highest batting averages on the team. And the Seminoles also return their top three home run hitters in Edenfield (13), Dack (11) and Harding (10).

But the ‘Noles will need to replace veteran starting shortstop Josie Muffley and their top two first basemen, Leonard and Bethaney Keen.

While the transfer portal will undoubtedly be a factor, Alameda said she really likes what she has coming in with that freshman class, which includes several elite prospects.

“I think we have some really talented freshmen coming in that have been texting every single day,” Alameda said following FSU’s final game at the World Series. “Even though they’re not here, they are getting videos from me of like, ‘This is what it’s like when we get here.’ We’ve got the dream of where we want to be with the new ones coming in. It’s just going to take work.”

Talk about this story with other die-hard FSU football fans on the Tribal Council.