Clearwater Invitational experience to benefit FSU softball in Dugout Club Classic at home

Everything that happened at the Clearwater Invitational was 'pretty rare.' Even for Florida State softball's veteran head coach Lonni Alameda.

Mainly in the Georgia game, which ended up a 20-10 FSU loss, Alameda can't remember the last time the Seminoles gave up 20 runs.

"It's kind of an unusual situation to be in," Alameda said. "I think at first you look at yourself, and you think 'What are we doing,' and then you hear everything that's going on around the whole park.

"There were definitely some close games, but there were a lot of games that were really out of control."

Figuring out pitching identity

There were 10 games where the winning team scored 10 or more runs and two where 20 or more runs were scored. There were a handful of blowouts, but overall, there was a lot of offense in nearly every game.

The run totals were the highest they had ever been before in the tournament, and that was all before most of Saturday's games and all of Sunday's games were canceled due to weather.

While it was an abnormal kind of tournament, FSU still has some questions to be answered on the pitching and defensive side of its game.

The Seminoles gave up 34 runs in two losses.

In the 14-10 loss to UCLA on Friday FSU ran four different arms, seeing the group give up 14 runs on 11 hits, walk 11, and strike out five.

Against Georgia on Saturday, five Seminole pitchers gave up 20 runs on 16 hits walking 12 and striking out just four.

Alameda said that while it was an outing where pitchers may have been "punched in the mouth", she wanted to try out new things with the rotation and have them gain experience, even if it is in uncomfortable situations.

"I expected our schedule to be really tough and I expected us to get exposed a little bit," Alameda said. "I also wanted to put ourselves in a lot of different positions. There are times I could have gone to an Allison [Royalty] or an experienced pitcher, but I decided to get Mimi [Gooden] in there."

"I need to see what we're capable of against really good hitting teams so that I know what we need to work on."

Critical experience for younger players

Experience for younger players was huge for the Seminoles, now returning home this weekend for the Dugout Club Classic where they will play double headers against Florida International (6-5) on Thursday, Charleston Southern on Friday (6-4) and Nicholls (6-5) on Saturday.

Infielder Devyn Flaherty said younger players managing high-pressure situations in Clearwater is one of the biggest pluses that came out of that weekend.

"Kaylee and I have, we're on the same side of the field in a 7-1 ballgame, we're not sweating it, we're sitting there laughing talking about things," Flaherty said. "Whereas on the other side of the field, Isa [Torres] and [Jaysoni Beachum] might be like, 'Oh, my God, what's going on.'

"It's just trying to implement that into them, they haven't been there before. They don't know and just letting them take it all in, learn from things learn that this environment is one of growth, and they're going to be in those situations for so many years to come."

After coming out of high-pressure games against Stanford, UCLA and Georgia, the Seminoles are expecting to see an adjustment from its newcomers facing a weekend slate that may not be as intense.

FIU hosted the Panther Invitational last weekend, going 3-1, and picking up wins over Rutgers (two) and Army. It fell to No. 10 Duke 6-0 and had its Sunday game canceled.

Charleston Southern also hosted a tournament last weekend, going 3-1 with wins over UMass Lowell and St. John's (two).

Nicholls was in Houston for a weekend tournament and went 2-3. It defeated UMass and UTEP and lost to UMass and Houston (twice).

"Looking forward this weekend to have better first pitch strike percentages, better back-to-backs. They're little things that may not result in wins, but the result in the process," Alameda said. "If we can do that, and your seniors are with you doing that, they could see the growth and then you start to build as a team."

Up next

Who: No. 11 Florida State (5-3) vs. Florida International (6-5)

When/Where: Thursday, 5 p.m. (Gm. 1) and 7:30 p.m. (Gm. 2), at JoAnne Graf Field

TV: ACCNX

Jack Williams covers Florida State athletics for Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at jwilliams@tallahassee.com or on X @jackgwilliams.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU softball looks to benefit from 'rare' weekend at Clearwater Invitational