Lonni Alameda Talks FSU 2017

On this edition of In The Circle, Eric Lopez talks to Florida State Seminoles Head Coach Lonni Alameda about the high expectations entering the 2017 season.

Lonni Alameda taken Florida State to WCWS 2 times in last 3 seasons.

Alameda enters her 9th season coaching the Noles coming off second trip in three seasons to Oklahoma City for the Women’s College World Series reaching the semifinals for the third time in school history and ending with a 55-10 record with a No. 4 national ranking, which tied for the highest final NFCA ranking ever for FSU.

Alameda has led the Seminoles to ACC Championship titles in 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Among the topics Alameda talks about include :

Jessica Burroughs leads Noles Pitching staff.(Photo Courtesy of FSU)

• Expectations of 2017 season with almost entire team back from WCWS appearance.
• Learning from experience in Oklahoma City in 2016
• Depth on the roster on offense and pitching.
• Being the target in the ACC and in the country
• Jessica Burroughs leading the pitching staff
• Leaders passing on the tradition from senior class to senior class under Alameda.
• Being Head Coach in the NPF with USSSA Pride
• Being involved with Canadian National team in 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
• Softball back in the Olympics in Tokyo in 2020.

Interview with Lonni Alameda Episode 74

Alex Powers leads deep Offense attack ( Photo Courtesy of Tallahassee Democrat)

Alameda won ACC Coach of the Year for the fourth straight season in 2016 as Jessica Burroughs and Alex Powers earned ACC Pitcher and Player of the Year honors, respectively in the ACC. FSU set an ACC record with six members on the All-ACC First Team as Burroughs and Powers were joined by Ellie Cooper, Meghan King, Morgan Klaevemann and Jessica Warren. Burroughs, Powers and Warren were named NFCA All-Americans, marking the sixth time that FSU had three All-Americans in the same season.

2017 is the first time in program history the Noles return three All-Americans from a previous season.

Alameda spent summer of 2016 being the Head Coach of USSSA Pride in 2016 leading them to the best record in the NPF in regular season and took them to NPF Championship Series before falling to the Chicago Bandits in 3 games for the championship.  Balancing multiple coaching jobs is nothing new for Alameda.

Lonni Alameda coached USSSA Pride in 2016 in the NPF.(Photo Courtesy USSSA)

Alameda helped the development of Canada’s National team from 2004 to 2008 aiding Canada up until the 2004 Summer Olympics and resumed as an assistant following the  2005 season when Alameda was  the Head Coach at UNLV. In the summer of 2006, Canada qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, after its strong showing in the World Championships. Alameda spent the summer of 2008 with the Canadian team which ended its quest for the gold with a fourth-place finish at the Beijing Olympic Games.

 

Look Back at 2016. Look Ahead to 2017

On this edition of In The Circle podcast, Eric Lopez and Victor Anderson talk to Justin McLeod of Justin’s World to recap the year in softball and look ahead to the potential storylines in 2017 in both College and NPF softball.

• Is Oklahoma the team to beat in 2017?
• Who is the best college softball player going into 2017?
• Who were some of the best coaching moves in the off-season?
• The year that was in the NPF and what in store for the league in 2017?
• Impact of Softball returning into the Olympics.
• Early look at some of the storylines in the SEC, Big 12, Pac 12, Big 10, American Conference and more.

In The Circle Podcast episode 58 with Justin McLeod.

Check out Justin’s work at Justin’s World.

Also in case you missed the most recent episodes of In The Circle check out below.

Mackenzie Audas on her UCF Career and new career in Photography.

Stephanie Best on her Hall of Fame career at UCF. Her career in the NPF and ProSwings.com company.

Tiffany Lane on participating in The World Championships this summer.

2016 NPF Championship Series recap 

You can follow In The Circle on Twitter @InTheCircleSB & on facebook.

 

LSU-Auburn Tops Viewers for Season

Beth Torina – Photo by LSUSports.Net

Clint Myers

The SEC Championship game between LSU and Auburn was the most watched College Softball game of the season to date. The Auburn Tigers win over LSU garnered 587,000 viewers on Saturday on ESPN according to SportsTVRatings.com . It beat the Georgia-Alabama game on May 7th which had 505,000 viewers on ESPN.

This year SEC Title game is down from last year’s SEC Title game between Auburn and Tennessee had 887,000 viewers. Keep in mind though that last year’s SEC title game aired on primetime compared to this year’s 5pm eastern start time.

The ACC Championship game between Notre Dame and Florida State that aired before the SEC Championship game on ESPN had 486,000 viewers making it the most watched ACC Softball championship game ever as it was up from last year’s ACC Title game between Florida State and Pittsburgh which had 453,000 viewers. The American Conference Championship game between South Florida and Tulsa which aired on ESPN had 484,000 viewers. It was the first time the American Conference Championship game aired on ESPN and did not go up against a Softball game.

Last year Championship game between Tulsa and UCF aired on ESPN2 went head to head against the ACC Championship game at the same time. In 2014 The American Conference Tournament  was effected by rain so it aired Semi-final game between UCF and Rutgers from Houston on ESPN2 that went up against a regular season Big 12 Softball game.

The Big East Championship game between St John’s and Butler had  tough competition going up against ACC and SEC title games on a lesser network airing on Fox Sports 2. The game garnered 24,000 viewers which did triple last year’s Big East Title game between St John’s and Seton Hall which had 8,000 viewers.

The NCAA Selection Show on Sunday night that aired on ESPNU garnered 109,000 viewers.

ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU Softball Schedule

Date	Time (ET)	Game	Network
March 18	7 p.m.	No. 16 Tennessee at No. 1 Florida	ESPNU-  74K
March 24	5 p.m.	Mississippi Valley State at Texas Southern	ESPNU-44K
March 26	Noon	Florida at  LSU	ESPN2-250K
	9 p.m.	Texas at  Baylor	ESPN2-164K
April 2	Noon	Alabama at  Florida	ESPN2-298k
	12pm 10:30 p.m.	Tennessee at MissouriUCLA at  Oregon	ESPNU-101kESPNU- 99K
April 3	7 p.m.	Ole Miss at Mississippi State	ESPNU- 91k
April 8	7 p.m.	Coastal Carolina at Winthrop	ESPNU- 67K
April 9	Noon	Texas A&M at  Tennessee	ESPNU- 135k
	5:30 p.m.	NC State at  Florida State	ESPNU-89k
	3 p.m.	Kentucky at LSU	ESPN – 392k
	7:30 p.m.	Georgia at  Missouri	ESPNU-163K
April 10	3 p.m.	Oklahoma at  Baylor	ESPN2- 208K
	4 p.m.	NC State at  Florida State	ESPNU- 73k
April 16	1 p.m.3pm	Tennessee at  GeorgiaTexas at Oklahoma	ESPN 2-207kESPN2-219K
April 17	12 p.m.	Missouri at Kentucky	ESPNU- 163k
April 23	2 p.m.430pm	Georgia at  AuburnTexas AM at Missouri	ESPNU-75KESPNU-112K
	2 p.m.	Oklahoma at  Tennessee	ESPN- 311K
	5 p.m.	UCLA at  Arizona	ESPN2-182k
April 24	3:30 p.m.	Notre Dame at North Carolina	ESPNU-70K
	5 p.m.	UCLA at  Arizona	ESPN2-166k
April 25	7 p.m.	Notre Dame at North Carolina	ESPNU-88K
April 27	6 p.m.	Long Beach State at Cal State Fullerton	ESPNU-45k
	10:30 p.m.	Long Beach State at Cal State Fullerton	ESPNU*-34K
April 28	4 p.m.	Bethune-Cookman at Florida A&M	ESPNU-41K
April 30	7 p.m.	LSU at Arkansas	ESPNU- 148K
	8 p.m.	Auburn at  Tennessee	ESPN2-Rain Out
May 1	3 p.m.	Arizona at  Oregon	ESPN2- 183K
	5 p.m.	UCF at USF	ESPNU-124k
May 7	Noon	Georgia at  Alabama	ESPN- 505k
	1 p.m.	Texas A&M at  Auburn	ESPN- 418K
	1pm 3 p.m.	Arkansas at Florida  South Carolina at  Missouri	ESPNU- 73K ESPNU-58K
May 13	12pm 3 p.m.	Auburn vs Alabama LSU vs Tennessee	ESPNU- 81K ESPNU- 148K
	5:30 p.m.	Auburn vs Florida	ESPNU- 183K
May 14	Noon	Tulsa vs South Florida	ESPN- 484K
	2 p.m.	Notre Dame vs Florida State	ESPN- 486K
	5 p.m.	LSU vs Auburn	ESPN- 587K
May 14	3pm	Butler vs St John’s	FS2- 24k

NCAA Softball Tournament Projections V

Here is my Fifth 2016 NCAA Softball Tournament Projections of the season. () is RPI ranking.

Here is In The Circle Podcast where we breakdown the Conference Tournaments, Teams that are in and out and seeding scenarios and more.

In The Circle Podcast : NCAA Tournament Projections, Conference Tournament Previews

ACC (4): Florida State (7), Notre Dame (29),  Louisville (46), North Carolina (35)

American (3): UCF (31), South Florida (20), Tulsa (41)

Big East: DePaul

Big 12 (5):  Oklahoma(4), Baylor (13),  Texas (26), Oklahoma State (34),Kansas (47)

Big Ten (4): Michigan (2), Minnesota (22), Nebraska (32), Ohio State (40)

 Pac-12 (7):  Oregon (9), Washington (6), UCLA (14),  Arizona (21), Utah(25), Oregon State (30), California (37)

 SEC (11): Florida (1),  Alabama (3), Auburn (8), Missouri(10),  Kentucky (16),  Tennessee (11), LSU (15), Georgia (19), Texas A&M(17), South Carolina (24), Ole Miss (27)

 A-10: Fordham

 America East: Albany

 A-Sun: USC Upstate

 Big Sky: Sacramento State

 Big South: Longwood

 Big West (3): Cal State Fullerton (28), Long Beach State (36), CSUN (55)

 CAA:  James Madison (5)

 C-USA: Florida Atlantic (23)

 Horizon: Wright State

Ivy: Dartmouth

 MAAC: Marist

 MAC: Miami (Ohio)

 MEAC: Delaware State

 MVC: Wichita State (50)

 MWC: Fresno State (17)

 NEC: Saint Francis

 OVC: Jacksonville State

 Patriot: Lehigh

Southern: Samford (53)

 Southland: McNeese State (33)

 Summit: North Dakota State

 Sun Belt (3): Louisiana-Lafayette (12), Texas State (44), South Alabama (43)

 SWAC: Alabama State

 WAC: New Mexico State

 WCC: BYU (45)

Last 4 In : Kansas, CSUN, Ohio State, Oklahoma State

First 4 Out :  Illinois (48), Virginia Tech (42) , Boston College (52), Arizona State (39),

Projected Host Teams

1- Florida

2- Michigan

3-Oklahoma

4- Oregon

5- Florida State

6-Alabama

7-Washington

8- Auburn

9- James Madison

10- Tennessee

11-Louisiana Lafayette

12- Kentucky

13- Missouri

14- LSU

15-Baylor

16- UCLA

Teams in Contention to Host

Fresno State, Arizona, Georgia, Minnesota

Conference RPI Rankings Top 12

1- SEC

2- Pac 12

3- Big 12

4- ACC

5- Big Ten

6- Sun Belt

7- American

8- Colonial

9-Big West

10-A-Sun

11- Mountain West

12- CUSA

Follow In The Circle on Twitter & on Facebook.

Softball Tournament Projections IV

Cheridan Hawkins

Never thought we see the day where Pac 12 Leader be seeded lower then the Colonial Conference champion but that is what the commitee did in its initial rankings. I dont expect to last.  Check out Graham Hays 5 observations.

Here is my Fourth 2016 NCAA Softball Tournament Projections of the season. () is RPI ranking.

ACC (4): Florida State (5), Notre Dame (26),  Louisville (48), North Carolina (35)

American (3): UCF (28), South Florida (20), Tulsa (42)

Big East: DePaul

Big 12 (4):  Oklahoma(3), Baylor (14),  Texas (31), Kansas (44)

Big Ten (5): Michigan (2), Minnesota (22), Nebraska (32), Ohio State (33), Illinois (47)

 Pac-12 (7):  Oregon (6), Washington (8), UCLA (15),  Arizona (21), Utah(25), Oregon State (23), California (39)

 SEC (11): Florida (1),  Alabama (4), Auburn (7), Missouri(10),  Kentucky (12),  Tennessee (13), LSU (16), Georgia (19), Texas A&M(18), South Carolina (27), Ole Miss (29)

 A-10: Fordham

 America East: Albany

 A-Sun: USC Upstate (54)

 Big Sky: Sacramento State

 Big South: Longwood

 Big West (3): Cal State Fullerton (30), Long Beach State (38), CSUN (53)

 CAA:  James Madison (9)

 C-USA: Florida Atlantic (24)

 Horizon: Wright State

Ivy: Dartmouth

 MAAC: Marist

 MAC: Miami (Ohio)

 MEAC: Delaware State

 MVC: Wichita State (50)

 MWC: Fresno State (17)

 NEC: Saint Francis

 OVC: Jacksonville State

 Patriot: Lehigh

Southern: Samford (51)

 Southland: McNeese State (37)

 Summit: North Dakota State

 Sun Belt (3): Louisiana-Lafayette (10), Texas State (49), South Alabama (45)

 SWAC: Alabama State

 WAC: New Mexico State

 WCC: BYU (45)

Last 4 In : Illinois, CSUN, Tulsa, North Carolina

First 4 Out : Virginia Tech ,San Diego State, Boston College, Arizona State,

Projected Host Teams

1- Florida

2- Michigan

3-Oklahoma

4- Oregon

5- Florida State

6-Alabama

7-Auburn

8- Washington

9- Tennessee

10- Louisiana Lafayette

11- James Madison

12- Kentucky

13- Missouri

14- LSU

15-Baylor

16- UCLA

Teams in Contention to Host

 Fresno State, Arizona, Georgia, Minnesota

Conference RPI Rankings Top 12

1- SEC

2- Pac 12

3- Big 12

4- ACC

5- Big Ten

6- Sun Belt

7- American

8- Colonial

9-Big West

10-A-Sun

11- Mountain West

12- CUSA

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Oklahoma vs Tennessee Tops Softball Viewers

Oklahoma’s Patty Gasso

The Oklahoma Sooners dominant win over the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday  was the 2nd most watched College Softball regular season game of the season. The Sooners-Vols game that was on ESPN garnered 311,000 viewers according to SportsTVRatings.com. It is second only to Kentucky at LSU game on April 9th which had 392,000 viewers. That game was also on ESPN. Oklahoma-Tennessee more then doubled the audience of College Baseball’s Georgia-Florida game which aired at same time on ESPN2 and garnered only 144,000 viewers.

Finishing a distant second and third this weekend in viewership was the  the rivalry between UCLA-Arizona. Saturday’s telecast on ESPN2 between the two Pac 12 powers in College Softball drew 182,000 viewers while Sunday’s telecast garnered 166,000 viewers.

Texas AM-Missouri game on ESPNU’s Saturday telecast was the other College Softball game to garner more then 100,000 viewers as it had 112,000 viewers beating Georgia-Auburn which garnered 75,000 on ESPNU earlier in the day. The ACC’s telecast of Notre Dame at North Carolina on Sunday had 70,000 viewers on ESPNU and 88,000 viewers on the Monday night telecast on ESPNU.

ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU Softball Schedule

Date	Time (ET)	Game	Network
March 18	7 p.m.	No. 16 Tennessee at No. 1 Florida	ESPNU-  74K
March 24	5 p.m.	Mississippi Valley State at Texas Southern	ESPNU-44K
March 26	Noon	Florida at  LSU	ESPN2-250K
	9 p.m.	Texas at  Baylor	ESPN2-164K
April 2	Noon	Alabama at  Florida	ESPNU-298k
	12pm10:30 p.m.	Tennessee at Missouri UCLA at  Oregon	ESPNU-101k ESPNU- 99K
April 3	7 p.m.	Ole Miss at Mississippi State	ESPNU- 91k
April 8	7 p.m.	Coastal Carolina at Winthrop	ESPNU- 67K
April 9	Noon	Texas A&M at  Tennessee	ESPNU- 135k
	5:30 p.m.	NC State at  Florida State	ESPNU-89k
	3 p.m.	Kentucky at LSU	ESPN – 392k
	7:30 p.m.	Georgia at  Missouri	ESPNU-163K
April 10	3 p.m.	Oklahoma at  Baylor	ESPN2- 208K
	4 p.m.	NC State at  Florida State	ESPNU- 73k
April 16	1 p.m.3pm	Tennessee at  Georgia Texas at Oklahoma	ESPN 2-207k ESPN2-219K
April 17	12 p.m.	Missouri at Kentucky	ESPNU- 163k
April 23	2 p.m. 430pm	Georgia at  Auburn Texas AM at Missouri	ESPNU-75K ESPNU-112K
	2 p.m.	Oklahoma at  Tennessee	ESPN- 311K
	5 p.m.	UCLA at  Arizona	ESPN2-182k
April 24	3:30 p.m.	Notre Dame at North Carolina	ESPNU-70K
	5 p.m.	UCLA at  Arizona	ESPN2-166k
April 25	7 p.m.	Notre Dame at North Carolina	ESPNU-88K
April 27	6 p.m.	Long Beach State at Cal State Fullerton	ESPNU-45k
	10:30 p.m.	Long Beach State at Cal State Fullerton	ESPNU*-34K
April 28	4 p.m.	Bethune-Cookman at Florida A&M	ESPNU
April 30	7 p.m.	LSU at Arkansas	ESPNU
	8 p.m.	Auburn at  Tennessee	ESPN2
May 1	3 p.m.	Arizona at  Oregon	ESPN2
	5 p.m.	UCF at USF	ESPNU
	7 p.m.	Auburn at Tennessee	ESPNU
May 7	Noon	Georgia at  Alabama	ESPN
	1 p.m.	Texas A&M at  Auburn	ESPNU
	3 p.m.	South Carolina at  Missouri	ESPNU
May 13	3 p.m.	SEC Tournament	ESPNU
	5:30 p.m.	SEC Tournament	ESPNU
May 14	Noon	American Championship	ESPN
	2 p.m.	ACC Championship	ESPN
	5 p.m.	SEC Championship	ESPN
May 15	10 a.m.	SWAC Softball Championship	ESPNU**

NCAA Softball Tournament Projections III

Cat Osterman Asst Coach at Texas State

Here is my Third 2016 NCAA Softball Tournament Projections of the season. () is RPI ranking.

ACC (4): Florida State (9), Notre Dame (25),  Louisville (50), North Carolina (37)

Comment

American (3): UCF (29), South Florida (17), Tulsa (36)

Big East: Villanova

Big 12 (4):  Oklahoma(3), Baylor (14),  Texas (32), Kansas (42)

Big Ten (5): Michigan (2), Minnesota (21), Nebraska (31), Ohio State (34), Illinois (48)

 Pac-12 (8):  Oregon (7), Washington (8), UCLA (16),  Arizona (20), Utah(24), Oregon State (27),  Arizona State (35), California (39)

 SEC (11): Florida (1),  Alabama (4), Auburn (5), Missouri(11),  Kentucky (12),  Tennessee (13), LSU (15), Georgia (19), Texas A&M(22), South Carolina (28), Ole Miss (30)

 A-10: Fordham

 America East: Albany

 A-Sun: USC Upstate (52)

 Big Sky: Sacramento State

 Big South: Longwood

 Big West (2): Cal State Fullerton (26), Long Beach State (43)

 CAA:  James Madison (6)

 C-USA: Florida Atlantic (23)

 Horizon: Wright State

Ivy: Dartmouth

 MAAC: Marist

 MAC: Miami (Ohio)

 MEAC: Delaware State

 MVC: Wichita State (54)

 MWC: Fresno State (18)

 NEC: Saint Francis

 OVC: Jacksonville State

 Patriot: Lehigh

Southern: Samford (49)

 Southland: McNeese State (38)

 Summit: North Dakota State

 Sun Belt (3): Louisiana-Lafayette (10), Texas State (44), South Alabama (46)

 SWAC: Alabama State

 WAC: New Mexico State

 WCC: BYU (45)

Last 4 In : Illinois, North Carolina,  Arizona State, Texas State

First 4 Out : San Diego State, Mississippi State, Purdue, Georgia Southern

Projected Host Teams

1- Florida

2- Michigan

3-Oklahoma

4- Oregon

5- Auburn

6-Alabama

7-Florida State

8- Washington

9- Louisiana Lafayette

10- Kentucky

11- James Madison

12- UCLA

13- Tennessee

14- Missouri

15-Baylor

16- Arizona

Teams in Contention to Host

LSU, Fresno State, Georgia, Minnesota

Conference RPI Rankings Top 12

1- SEC

2- Pac 12

3- Big 12

4- ACC

5- Big Ten

6- Sun Belt

7- American

8- Colonial

9-Big West

10-A-Sun

11- Mountain West

12- CUSA

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Gators Softball vs UConn Womens Hoops

Tim Walton led Florida to 2 National Championships.

On this edition of In The Circle Podcast, Eric Lopez and Victor Anderson compare the Florida Gators current run against UConn Women’s Basketball current run. How do they compare?  Lopez and Anderson also break down Women Basketball product vs College Softball product and which one is more popular?  The guys also discuss the following

• Recap College Softball weekend action in the SEC,ACC,Big 10, Mountain West, CAA, and more.
• Is LSU in trouble following getting swept by Florida?
• Is Sydney Little John Alabama’s new ace?
• Preview the upcoming weekend series between LSU-Georgia, FSU-Notre Dame, UCLA-Oregon, and more.

In The Circle Podcast Episode 16

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Mary Nutter, Citrus Classic Previews

On this edition of In The Circle podcast, Eric Lopez and Victor Anderson recap the wild first weekend of the college softball season and previewed Mary Nutter Tournament in Palm Springs as well as the ACC/Big 10 Challenge in Tallahassee and the Michelle Smith Tournament in Clearwater. Lopez and Anderson also talked about the Oregon-Louisiana Lafayette 3 game set this weekend as well as the Citrus Tournament at the Wide World of Sports which features games in D1 and D2.

Among the topics discussed on the podcast include :

• Auburn being a legit National Title Contender?.
• What to expect in ACC/Big 10 Challenge
• What to expect in Michelle Smith Inv in Clearwater
• Cheridan Hawkins vs Lexie Elkins
• Mary Nutter Outlook
• Citrus Tournament games outlook with D1 and D2 games being played

In the Circle Podcast : Week 2 College Softball Preview

Mary Nutter Classic Tournament Schedule :  All Games on FloSoftball.com

 

NCAA Softball Games on ESPN3
2/19 11:00 AM EST  Nebraska-Omaha vs. Georgia (Disney)

2/19 1:15 PM EST  Missouri vs. Jacksonville State (Disney)

2/19  3:30 PM EST   UAB vs. Florida (Disney)

2/19  4:30 PM EST   Nebraska vs. North Carolina State

2/19 5:00 PM EST  UNC Greensboro vs. South Carolina

2/195:45 PM EST   Rollins vs. North Georgia (Disney)

2/19  6:30 PM EST   Ohio State vs. Georgia Tech

2/19 6:30 PM EST    Michigan vs. Florida State (ACC/BIG 10)

2/20  1230pm  EST    Ohio vs South Carolina

2/20    5pm   EST      Michigan vs Florida State (ACC/BIG)

2/20    5pm EST     Nebraska vs. North Carolina State

2/20    730pm EST   Wisconsin vs. North Carolina State

2/20   730pm  EST   Minnesota vs Florida State ( ACC/Big 10)

2/21    11:00 AM EST  Penn State vs. Jacksonville

2/21     1230pm EST   Wisconsin vs. North Carolina State

2/21      1230pm EST  Longwood vs. South Carolina

2/21       1230pm EST  Minnesota vs. Florida State (ACC/Big 10)

2/21         3pm EST   Winthrop vs. South Carolina

Check out schedule for Michelle Smith Tournament Here.

Check out details for ACC/Big 10 Challenge in Tallahassee Here.

ACC Season Outlook

 

FSU’s Lonni Alameda

Notre Dame’s Deanna Gumpf

The Seminoles have been dominant in the ACC winning the Conference title the last two seasons. The Noles return 12 players from the 2015 squad that finished 49-14 on the season and  reached the NCAA Super Regional round for the third consecutive season and ranked No. 10 in the final poll by both the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and USA Softball.

Florida State has to replace 2014 National Player of the Year winner in pitcher Lacy Waldrop who now with the Chicago Bandits in the NPF and shortstop Maddie O’Brien who also is playing in the NPF. The Noles will look to The 2015 ACC Tournament MVP Jessica Burroughs  to be the ace of the Noles. Burroughs  went 19-6 last year with a 2.08 ERA and 219 strikeouts and was named on USA Softball Top 50 players watch list.

Jessica Warren looks to build on a freshman season where she led the team with 19 home runs and 57 RBI and was named the 2015 ACC Freshman of the Year.

The question is who can challenge the Noles?  Last year the ACC had 6 teams in the NCAA tournament. Notre Dame hosted a regional as 16 national seed last season and return strong nucleus of the team and figureds to be the biggest threat to Florida State.

North Carolina will be led by Kristen Brown who figures to be a high draft pick in the NPF Draft in April. Tar Heels Head Coach Donna Pappa hired in the off-season Chelsey Barclay to handle the pitching staff. Barclay coached the pitchers at Cal Poly and Marshall where she coached Andi Williamson who now pitcher in the NPF with the USSSA Pride.

Other teams to be in the mix include Pittsburgh who made it to ACC Tournament championship game last season which help them get into the ACC Tournament. North Carolina State made the Super Regionals last year but will have to replace ace pitcher Emily Weiman who won 31 games for the Wolfpack last year.  Virginia Tech will look to continue to extend on NCAA tournament streak as the Hokies have made it 4 straight years have a young offense will be depedent on pitching staff that returns 2 starting pitchers and have freshman Olivia Lattin who coached by asst coach Angela Tincher.

In the Circle podcast, Eric Lopez and Victor Anderson spoke with Justin McCleod of Justin’s World about the outlook for the ACC in 2016. Some of the topics discussed were as follows :

• Can FSU get back to Oklahoma City?
• Who is biggest threat to the Noles in the ACC?
• What impact will Chelsey Barclay have on the Tar Heels?
• Can the ACC duplicate 6 teams in NCAA like last year?

In the Circle Podcast : ACC Preview

Players to Watch According to Justin McCleod :

– Kristen Brown, North Carolina – Brown may be the best-kept secret in all of college softball. Did you know she was not only an all-American, but a top 25 finalist for National Player of the Year a season ago? Most seem to glaze over her name in favor of the headline-grabbers like Chamberlain, Romero, etc. but any and all would be remiss to look past Brown in consideration for the best players in the nation in 2016. She owns a career .346 career batting average, as well as the UNC career home runs mark. She led the conference in home runs, RBI, and slugging percentage last season and is one of the increasingly-less-rare power-hitting middle infielders. She should have an excellent chance to reach the pros this summer, though she’s likely to add a few more trophies and awards in college first.

– Shelby Pickett, Pittsburgh – The redshirt senior and former Ohio State Buckeye hit .350 a year ago in her first playing season as a Panther (she transferred prior to 2014, but sat out that year due to an injury). She’s got some pop in her bat and I think she could have a career year this season. She’ll be someone the Panthers can lean on to lead their offensive attack if they are to fulfill my prediction and get back to the postseason.

– Allie Rhodes/Rachel Nasland, Notre Dame – You might not find this duo on any lists of dominant pitching staffs nationwide, but they are a solid 1-2 punch in the circle for the Irish. Rhodes had a breakout campaign a year ago, recording a 20-5 record with a 2.81 ERA. Nasland went 17-9 and opponents hit just .207 against her in more than 180 innings of work. The duo complement each other well and pose a real problem for opposing offenses. If they can continue their high-level consistency of a year ago, they could help the Irish go places themselves in the postseason. 

– Victoria East, Florida State – A two-time all-conference selection, East suffered a down year in 2015. Moving from starting first baseman to primarily a corner outfielder had an effect on her production, as did a diminished amount of playing time. She has shown an ability to play extremely well at this level of the game, and if she can find her groove and return to the form of her freshman and sophomore campaigns, the ‘Noles may have no choice but to find a spot for her in the everyday lineup.

Eric Lopez Projections for NCAA Tournament Teams in ACC- 4 Teams

Florida State

Notre Dame

North Carolina

Pittsburgh

You can check out the Previews of Other Conferences :

Big Ten Preview Right Here

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