TALLAHASSEE, Fl. — After competing against the No. 4 non-conference strength of schedule in the country last season, head coach Lonni Alameda has put together another challenging slate for the Seminoles as she announced the 2020 schedule on Wednesday.
The Seminoles will play a total of 32 different teams in 2020 and nearly half of them (14) competed in the 2019 NCAA Tournament, along with five teams that advanced to the 2019 Women’s College World Series – Washington, Alabama, Florida, Minnesota and NCAA National Champion UCLA.
Overall, 17 teams on the 2020 schedule were ranked in the Top 70 of the final NCAA Softball RPI, 11 were either ranked or receiving voted in the final NFCA poll of the season, including five top 10 teams – No. 1 UCLA, No. 3 Washington, No. 4 Alabama, No. 7 Florida and No. 8 Minnesota.
“We are very excited about our schedule for 2020,” said Alameda. “It is a mix of numerous Top 20 teams and postseason teams, and it will great to have challenging competition all year long from February through May. We are thrilled to be able to go back to the St. Pete/Clearwater Elite Invitational as it is a chance for us to play against some outstanding teams, as well as have our families, fans and friends come and see us in Clearwater. We are excited for the growth of Team 37 and know that the challenges of February will mold us into who we are going to be as we battle in a tough ACC conference and into the postseason.”
Prior to the season getting underway, there will be the FSU Fan Day on February 1, where the 2019 Seminoles will play an intrasquad scrimmage and there will be an opportunity for fans to meet the team and gets photos and autographs.
The Seminoles will open the season at home with the second annual JoAnne Graf Classic on February 7-9. Florida State will host a trio of NCAA Tournament teams in Alabama, Detroit Mercy and North Carolina. The game between FSU and UNC will be a non-conference game and will not be considered for ACC standings.
After a home contest against Florida A&M on February 12, the Noles will head back down to the St. Pete/Clearwater Elite Invitational on February 14-16 to play games against Washington, Minnesota, Northwestern, Liberty and UCLA. All games of the Invitational will be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks.
Florida State returns home for a midweek game against UCF on February 26, before heading to Fayetteville, Ark., for the Wooo Pig Classic on February 28-March 1. The Noles will play a total of five games in three days against Baylor, Kent State, Villanova and host school Arkansas.
The Noles will stop off in Tallahassee on March 3 to play Holy Cross before heading down to The Spring Games on March 6-8 in Longwood, Fla. FSU will play Longwood, Charleston Southern, Creighton, Penn and Detroit Mercy over the three-day weekend.
The annual Fresh From Florida Sunshine Showdown will begin in Gainesville on March 11, before the Noles head to begin ACC play at Duke on March 13-15. On the trip home from Durham, FSU will play a midweek game at Coastal Carolina on March 17 and a doubleheader at College of Charleston on March 18.
Our Legacy and Legends Weekend will be held on March 20-22, as FSU hosts its first ACC home weekend against Louisville. The Noles will head up for a doubleheader at Mercer on March 25, before returning home to close out the month with a series against Georgia Tech on March 28-30.
Florida State will travel to Notre Dame on April 4-6, before playing five games at home in five days against Syracuse (April 10-12) and Louisiana (April 13-14). The Noles will play at Clemson during its inaugural season on April 17-19, and will play the second game of the season series with Florida at home on April 21.
The Seminoles will close out the regular season with a home series against Virginia on April 24-26 and a road matchup at Virginia Tech on May 1-3. The 2019 ACC Softball Championship will be hosted by Louisville on May 6-9 as the Seminoles seek their seventh consecutive conference championship.
