'She's an inspiration to everybody' ... Norvell cheering on Lonni Alameda, FSU Softball
TAMPA — The Florida State softball team is once again shining in the postseason, beating Auburn 4-0 on Sunday to advance to the NCAA Super Regionals against Texas Tech.
About 200 miles south of Tallahassee, FSU football coach Mike Norvell was thinking about the softball team Sunday afternoon as he prepared to speak at the Tampa stop of his spring booster tour.
“Did they really? A triple play?'” Norvell asked, when getting an update on the Seminoles’ Regional championship game against Auburn.
Norvell and his family have been frequent visitors in the stands for Florida State softball games, and he was happy to hear Lonni Alameda’s club was leading 2-0 at the time, thanks in part to an inning-ending triple play in the fourth.
The Seminoles’ sixth-year football coach has been supportive of several other FSU programs, but he said Alameda, who is undergoing treatment for breast cancer, has been an inspiration to him and many others.
“She’s special. She’s an incredible human being,” Norvell said. “One of my favorite coaches I’ve ever interacted with. I’m a huge supporter of what they do and how they do it. … She’s an inspiration to everybody for the coach, the woman, just the person that she is.
“Impacting a community, a place, she’s changed so many lives throughout her leadership, and you know she’s definitely an inspiration to everybody watching this team and seeing how she’s embraced an extremely challenging situation.”
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Since announcing her diagnosis in late March, Alameda has tried to keep the primary focus on her team and not her individual battle with cancer. But the softball community — both near and far — has rallied around her, wearing pink jerseys, stickers, patches and other gear in her honor.
Longtime Florida State apparel shop Garnet & Gold is also selling merchandise to benefit Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, where Alameda is undergoing treatment.
Norvell said he appreciates how much the community, the university and Florida State’s athletics department have shown their support to the Seminoles’ softball coach.
“Right before they went out on the Cal trip, she came up to the office just to check in, and I mean it was a blessing for me just to be able to see her …,” Norvell said. “My family, we try to make it out to any game that we can. But seeing the success and the way that team’s rallied behind her, to see the strength that she has just going through and her presence.”
Next up for Florida State Softball is the Super Regionals with a berth in the Women’s College World Series on the line. Norvell said his football team will begin summer workouts in the next couple of weeks to prepare for the Aug. 30 season opener against Alabama.
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