The 2018 Florida State Seminoles Celebrate their Softball Women’s College World Series National Championship
Meghan King rolled her final pitch, staring down her foe as the softball slipped from her grasp. Hurtling towards the Husky at-bat, Meghan’s determination never faded as the bat clicked off the ball. Fittingly, the softball took a lucky bounce towards her. Meghan King grinned, retrieved the ball swiftly and glanced at first base. With a throw, it was all over. The surge of bodies on the diamond couldn’t be stemmed. Husky nation starred-on, their rightful place at the top of Collegiate Softball robbed by an upstart.
Florida State softball has been, for quite some time, a power in the national landscape. However, in post-season play never seemed to piece their teams together. This was a sport dominated by the PAC-12, Oklahoma, and University of Florida. The ACC in general isn’t considered a power in softball (Clemson doesn’t even field a softball team, surprisingly). In this conference, one power reigned supreme: Florida State. Yet, despite dominant in-conference play, Florida State was never considered a contender among the nation’s elite to be a threat to their dominance.
2018 changed all that. The weight of the 2017-2018 athletics season came crashing-in on each foe, one-by-one, as the Seminole softball team bought-in to Lonni Alameda’s message. #idk has been the motto for this team. Lonni didn’t know the chemistry or make-up of this team this season. 2017, by all counts, was to be the team to win it all. Yet they fell to LSU in the Super Regional.
2018 was a season that set Seminole Nation in turmoil. FSU was to compete in the Playoff, and instead a 7-6 campaign set the Football program in flux. With a head coach spurning the once-great program for greener pastures out west, the fan-base was set in muddled confusion as to where to direct their hopes, dreams and aspirations. Denied catharsis in Football, the loyal fans typically turn to the Diamond sports (although many fans should of participated in the Seminole’s unthinkable Elite 8 run). Mike Martin is a Collegiate power, indeed, he is the sport’s winning-est coach. Yet 40 years of 40+ wins wasn’t enough, yet again, as Florida State fell in their own Regional.
There is a saying among fans that Seminole athletics is cursed with greatness, but never the hardware. The curse applies towards their Diamond sports, Baseball and Softball. While sufficiently funded, neither program necessarily has unlimited resources to pull-together their stellar runs year-in and year-out, and yet they consistently make post-season play. However, this is where the luck usually dries. As a result, fandom of both sports across the nation never consider Florida State a National Championship contender.
FSU softball in 2018 wasn’t the team that people thought would win it all. They didn’t have the facilities, the coach, nor the team to make a run like this. And yet, despite it all, all foes eventually fell to the Seminoles. One-by-one, LSU dropped in the Super Regional, Seminole nation got their revenge against the tigers. A hit came against the Noles as they lost in the last inning against UCLA, a perennial power out west. This is how the season was to end. Yet, Florida State fought back. Georgia, a SEC power, fell to the Noles in the elimination bracket. Followed by Oregon, another power. Then, FSU got their chance against UCLA. FSU fell their foe twice in a row to make the championship. Lead by Meghan King in the circle, the Seminoles came to meet the Washington Huskies.
Washington, yet another power in the PAC-12, was poised to win another one for their conference. They weren’t to be denied, especially against an ACC upstart. The conference had never had a team make the finals of the Women’s College World Series up to this point. It was a showdown of David and Goliath.
The softball loyal had their Cinderella story: Florida State against the elite PAC-12.
In 2018, the weight of FSU’s hardships came crashing-in on Washington. The curse was to be broken. The warchant was to ring, and the ACC hoisted to the forefront of Softball contention. As the nation starred on in disbelief, Seminoles let themselves be heard across the sport. At the close of the team athletics in the 2017-2018 season, Florida State was not to be denied. A burden was released, and the woes of a program beset by poor fortune were finally relinquished. Florida State proclaimed to the nation that they were the Queens of Softball, a new blue blood, not to be denied and always to be respected.
The Atlantic Coastal Conference brought their first Softball Championship to light, marked now as a contender among the other conferences.
Florida State, tomahawk chopping and warchant singing, has marked itself an elite program, hereto and forevermore.
Meghan King smiled as she was surrounded by her team, tears rolling. She and her teammates, whom all worked so hard for this moment, laughed, hugged, cried, smiled, as their dearest fans cheered them on (crying-too, along the way). The coaches joined them, Lonni included. To the head coach, her message was finally realized. She taught and lead this team into Seminole lore. She stands among the Nation’s elite, as well as the historic figures of Seminole past.
The fans of FSU athletics had their catharsis released in this moment. Tensions were eased, and euphoria took reign.
I starred-on at my alma matter, tears in my face, of the pride and joy I felt for the women who stormed the field.
Seminole nation stood with their softball team, their dreams and desires realized in the most unlikely of places.
Seminole nation looks forward to 2018-2019, the promises of new hope, new beginnings, and renewed determination, once again atop the College athletics landscape.
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