Last Time Out:
The Manatees closed the regular season on the road in Ocala as they split with #4 College of Central Florida (49-9) losing 9-5 in game one before winning 10-6 in game. Before they closed the regular season, the Manatees participated and hosted the Suncoast Conference Tournament at the SCF Softball Complex after sweeping Hillsborough Community College via the eight-run mercy rule by scores of 13-5 and 10-2. The Manatees were named the Suncoast Conference Tournament champions to earn a spot in the state tournament after finishing second behind Suncoast Regular Season Champion #1 FSW (52-1).
Tournament Participants:
Along with SCF, the following teams, conference regular season champions and conference runner-up, will also be participating in the tournament:
Mid-Florida: #4 CCF (48-8, 23-1 Mid-Florida)*
Mid-Florida Runner-up: #17 Seminole State (44-14, 19-5 Mid-Florida)
Panhandle: #3 Chipola College (43-4, 18-1 Panhandle)*
Panhandle Runner-up: RV Gulf Coast State (37-15, 14-8 Panhandle)
Southern: RV Indian River State (32-13, 16-2 Southern)*
Southern Runner-up: Eastern Florida State (31-23, 14-6 Southern)
Suncoast: #1 FSW (52-1, 19-1 Suncoast)*
Suncoast Runner-up: #20 SCF (44-14. 16-4 Suncoast)
*Regular Season Champion
Breakdown of Tournament and What's at Stake:
The FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8 Tournament is a double elimination tournament located at Boombah Soldiers Creek Park in Longwood, Florida, hosted by #17 Seminole State.
Once a team loses a game, they will get sent down to a losers bracket. Once a team get two losses, they are eliminated from the tournament.
What's at stake? Two teams (District G and District H) will automatically qualify to represent the FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8 in the NJCAA College Softball World Series in St. George, Utah. District G is basically the FCSAA State Champion and District H is the FCSAA State Runner-Up.
They are no surprises for a couple of the teams due to their ranking: #1 FSW, #3 Chipola and #4 CCF. Should any of these teams be eliminated from the state tournament, then they will still be in line for an at-large bid in the tournament. Of course, it would not be a surprise #1 FSW would go to the college softball world series because 1. they're the #1 team in the nation and 2. they have a very strong at-large bid to qualify for the national tournament.
State Tournament Bracket and Times:
Opening Round (May 2)-
Game One: Eastern Florida State (31-23) vs #4 CCF (49-9) 10 am
Game Two: # 3 Chipola (43-4) vs #20 SCF (44-14) 1 pm
Game Three: #1 FSW (52-1) vs #17 Seminole State (44-14) 4 pm
Game Four: RV Gulf Coast State (37-15) vs RV Indian River State (34-13) 7 pm
Losers Bracket (May 3)-
Game Five: Game One Loser vs Game Two Loser (10 am)
Game Six: Game Three Loser vs Game Four Loser (1 pm)
Winner's Bracket (May 3)-
Game Seven: Game One Winner vs Game Two Winner (4 pm)
Game Eight: Game Three Winner vs Game Four Winner (7 pm)
Loser Bracket (May 4)-
Game Nine: Game Six Winner vs Game Seven Loser (10 am)
Game 10: Game Five Winner vs Game Eight Loser (1 pm)
District G Championship (May 4): Game Seven Winner vs Game Eight Winner (4 pm)
Losers Bracket (May 4)
Game 12: Game 10 Winner vs Game Nine Winner (7 pm)
District H Championship (May 5): Game 11 Loser vs Game 12 Winner
Softball Awards:
All four conferences had specific awards and accolades: Player of the Year (all conferences and states), Coach of the Year (all conferences and states), Pitcher of the Year (all conferences and states), All-First Team (all conferences), All-Second Team (all conferences), Honorable Mention (all conferences), FCSAA All-State (first and second team), the Jean Williams Scholar-Athlete Award (FCSAA All-State), FCSAA All-Academic Team, FCSAA All-Tournament Team, FCSAA All-Tournament Team MVP and FCSAA All-Tournament Team Coach of the Year. The first team and second team is placed individually by position including designated player.
Suncoast Player of the Year:
For Suncoast Player of the Year, it was awarded to FSW's freshman Rebecca Laudino. Laudino, a native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, batted .525 with four home runs, 35 RBI and 42 stolen bases.
Suncoast Pitcher of the Year:
FSW would take another accolade as sophomore Kelsi Collins was named Suncoast Pitcher of the Year. Collins finished the regular season 24-0 with two saves, a 1.05 ERA and 172 strikeouts.
Suncoast Coach of the Year:
It was a hard fought battle between FSW's 3x Suncoast Coach of the Year in Robert Iamurri and SCF head coach Mandy Schuerman for Suncoast Coach of the Year, but in the end Schuerman earned the accolade for the second time in her career as SCF head coach. Schuerman, who enters her fifth season as head coach for SCF, is currently 176-96 overall with SCF. Schuerman secured her 150th as head coach on March 2 against CCF.
"It was voted on by my conference peers, so I feel humbled by their respect," said Schuerman on winning Suncoast Coach of the Year.
All-Suncoast First Team:
Three Manatees made the All-Suncoast First Team: sophomores Cheyenne Nunez and Megan Seeds and freshman Kailey Christian.
Nunez is batting .367 with 67 hits, a home run, 27 RBI and 37 stolen bases. Nunez was 2-for-7 against CCF with a stolen base. On March 27, she broke the SCF softball single season record for most stolen bases. In fact, the upcoming transfer for USC Upstate has 60 career stolen bases with SCF.
Seeds is batting .290 with 29 hits, a home run, 19 RBI and 11 stolen bases, while on the mound she is 2-3 with a 5.55 ERA and 18 strikeouts. Seeds was 3-for-7 against CCF with two runs scored and pitched one inning in the first game loss. As an outfielder, Seeds has a .984 fielding percentage (1.000 in Suncoast play).
Christian is 23-3 with a 1.97 ERA and 187 strikeouts while batting .364 with 51 hits, a home run and 34 RBI. The upcoming transfer for the University of Delaware did not throw against CCF, but did bat and went 3-for-4 with an RBI. I'm guessing the reason why head coach Mandy Schuerman did not have Christian pitch against CCF is to save her arm for the state tournament, which makes sense in a way.
Other members that joined Nunez, Seeds and Christian included the following by teams:
FSW: Laudino, Collins, freshmen Haley Ellefson, Owen Bowers and Lindsay Corbin and sophomores Madison Johnson, Paris Woods and Sarah Lawton
HCC: sophomores Dominique Mannerino and Juliana Uribe
Polk State: freshman Destinee Jackson and sophomore Victoria Perry
St. Pete: freshman Hannah Barnes
SFSC: sophomore April Alvarado
All-Suncoast Second Team:
For the All-Suncoast Second Team, it was freshmen Lauren Bostwick and Madi LoCastro and sophomores Kyria Holcomb and Haley McFadden that represented SCF.
Bostwick is batting .267 with 35 hits, two home runs, 23 RBI and 23 stolen bases. Against CCF, Bostwick hit her first career collegiate home runs as she finished the series 2-for-6 with two home runs and four RBI.
LoCastro is 10-2 with a 2.10 ERA and 48 strikeouts on the mound while batting .333 with seven home runs and 29 RBI at the plate. In game one against CCF, LoCastro threw five innings of relief while finishing the series 2-for-7 with a home run and four RBI.
An At-Large representative, Holcomb is batting .307 with 44 hits, a home run and 31 RBI, despite finishing 1-for-8 against CCF.
McFadden is batting .309 with 44 hits, two home runs and 30 RBI. The upcoming transfer for NAIA Warner University was 1-for-4 with an RBI against CCF.
Other members that joined Bostwick, LoCastro, Holcomb and McFadden included the following by teams:
FSW: freshmen Nativia Ellis and Pallas Potter and sophomore Alison Yawn
HCC: sophomores Daniela Bautista and Aliyah Carter and freshman Cerynn Siemer
Polk State: freshman Anizya Vargas
St. Pete: freshmen Isabella Huff and Ashley Smith and sophomore Emily Biddle
SFSC: freshman Janea Mobley, and sophomores Raylee Coleman and Shellby Young
FCSAA All-State Team:
Nunez and Christian were also named members of the FCSAA All-State Second Team.
All-Suncoast All-Academic Team:
Nine players were named to the Suncoast All-Academic Team: Bostwick, Christian, Nunez, Seeds, freshmen Ashley Zientek and Madelyn Graham and sophomores Nicci Palumbo, Sydney Parks and Madison Yoder.
Zientek, the fourth pitcher on the team is currently 9-4 with a 3.23 ERA and 76 strikeouts. Zientek threw a complete game with four strikeouts in the final regular season game against CCF.
Trying to regain her power after battling with a concussion and knee troubles, Graham is still batting .297 with 27 hits, four home runs and 27 RBI. Against CCF, Graham was 0-for-2 with an RBI.
After being shutdown for the rest of the season due to a knee injury, Palumbo had a productive year batting .364 with 11 RBI.
Parks is batting .213 with 11 RBI.
Yoder is batting .202 with four RBI.
A Look at SCF:
Along with Nunez, McFadden, Holcomb, Seeds, Bostwick, LoCastro and Christian, freshmen Sabrina "Sas" Long also joins the fray. Long is batting .348 with three home runs and a team-leading 43 RBI. Long was the hero in game two against CCF as she hit a grand slam, the second for the Manatees this season while going 3-for-7 with four RBI.
Scouting Chipola:
The Indians, who are ranked #3 in the nation will represent the Panhandle Conference after finishing 18-1 and claiming the Panhandle Conference Regular Season Championship.
In their last game, the Indians defeated Pensacola State College 8-0. The game was dubbed as a perfect game thrown by freshman Brianna Bailey. Bailey is currently 21-2 with a 1.31 ERA and 173 strikeouts while batting .333 with a home run and nine RBI and was recently named Panhandle Pitcher of the Year as well as a member of the All-Panhandle First Team.
Aside from Bailey, sophomore Amy Woodham is 21-1 with a 1.58 ERA and 143 strikeouts while batting .359 with five home runs and 35 RBI. In her last game on the mound, Woodham threw four innings with three strikeouts against Gulf Coast State, while at the plate she went 0-for-2. Woodham joined Bailey on the All-Panhandle First Team.
Meanwhile, sophomore Candela Figueroa is batting .465 with 10 home runs and 49 RBI. Figueroa was 2-for-3 against Pensacola State and as a result, she was named a member of the All-Panhandle First Team and the Panhandle Conference Player of the Year.
Series History (2012-Present):
The Manatees have yet to beat Chipola as they are 0-6 overall. Last time both teams met, the Indians defeated the Manatees on January 31, 2015 by a score of 7-1.
How to Keep Up:
Livestats will be available via Game Changer and will air livestream on the FCSAA Digital Network.
Fans can also keep up to speed on Twitter:
SCF: @SCFSoftball
IRS: @IRSCTheRiver
FSW: @FSWBucs
GCS: @GCSCsoftball
Chipola: @chipolasoftball
CCF: @cfpats
Eastern Florida State: @efsctitans
Seminole State: @SeminoleStateSB
Livestats Link: https://gc.com/game-5cc1cc3a1e12f9001ed9c6a2
Livestream Link: https://team1sports.com/fcsaa/
The Indians, who are ranked #3 in the nation will represent the Panhandle Conference after finishing 18-1 and claiming the Panhandle Conference Regular Season Championship.
In their last game, the Indians defeated Pensacola State College 8-0. The game was dubbed as a perfect game thrown by freshman Brianna Bailey. Bailey is currently 21-2 with a 1.31 ERA and 173 strikeouts while batting .333 with a home run and nine RBI and was recently named Panhandle Pitcher of the Year as well as a member of the All-Panhandle First Team.
Aside from Bailey, sophomore Amy Woodham is 21-1 with a 1.58 ERA and 143 strikeouts while batting .359 with five home runs and 35 RBI. In her last game on the mound, Woodham threw four innings with three strikeouts against Gulf Coast State, while at the plate she went 0-for-2. Woodham joined Bailey on the All-Panhandle First Team.
Meanwhile, sophomore Candela Figueroa is batting .465 with 10 home runs and 49 RBI. Figueroa was 2-for-3 against Pensacola State and as a result, she was named a member of the All-Panhandle First Team and the Panhandle Conference Player of the Year.
Series History (2012-Present):
The Manatees have yet to beat Chipola as they are 0-6 overall. Last time both teams met, the Indians defeated the Manatees on January 31, 2015 by a score of 7-1.
How to Keep Up:
Livestats will be available via Game Changer and will air livestream on the FCSAA Digital Network.
Fans can also keep up to speed on Twitter:
SCF: @SCFSoftball
IRS: @IRSCTheRiver
FSW: @FSWBucs
GCS: @GCSCsoftball
Chipola: @chipolasoftball
CCF: @cfpats
Eastern Florida State: @efsctitans
Seminole State: @SeminoleStateSB
Livestats Link: https://gc.com/game-5cc1cc3a1e12f9001ed9c6a2
Livestream Link: https://team1sports.com/fcsaa/
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