Spring Sports Season Gave Us Reasons To Smile

SPRING SPORTS SEASON GAVE US REASONS TO SMILE REASONS TO SMILE

By BOB FERRANTE

An unprecedented and abrupt ending. The spring sports season was just beginning to bloom – and the fruits of an offseason of labor were evident.

A baseball team that made mistakes in the field but displayed quality pitching and took down No. 1 Florida in Gainesville. A softball program that knocked off No. 1 Alabama on back-to-back days on opening weekend. A men’s track and field program that surprised us with an ACC indoor title. A women’s tennis team that reached No. 2 nationally and came just a few points away from knocking off the No. 1 team. Individual titles on the golf course for John Pak.

Whew. And we were just getting started. The threat of COVID-19 shut everything down on the afternoon of March 12. No practices, no games. “We regret having to take this action, but we believe it is in the best interest of our student-athletes and fans,” said athletics director David Coburn, of preventative guidance by the conference and NCAA offices.

While the seasons ended far too quickly, we look forward to sports returning in the fall. And a proposal from the NCAA would allow for each athlete to earn a redshirt season for 2020, which would also pave the way for this year’s seniors to return in 2021.

Let’s take a look back at the highlights from FSU’s spring sports season:

Baseball: The Seminoles went 12-5 as they blended a group of newcomers with veterans. And FSU played some of its best baseball on March 10 at Gainesville, playing error-free

baseball as Antonio Velez (six innings) and Parker Messick (three innings) combined on a three-hitter in a 2-0 victory over No. 1 Florida. “Velez and Parker were outstanding,” FSU coach Mike Martin Jr. said.

We also enjoyed the return to the diamond of Dylan Simmons, a freshman pitcher / first baseman who diagnosed with lymphoma late in his senior year of high school. Simmons underwent months of treatment and rehabilitation, was declared cancer-free in December and has worked his way into shape to fulfill his dream of playing baseball at FSU. In his first college at-bat, Simmons had a double. “The whole thing has been a roller coaster. It’s been fun and it’s been a heck of a journey,” Simmons said. took third. “I truly thought we had no chance to win the men’s title after Day 1,” FSU coach Bob Braman said. “But then we dropped the best Day 2 in my career, and that gave us belief.” The Seminoles ran with it – all the way to the top spot on the podium.

Softball: FSU went 17-7 with wins over No. 1 Alabama and a narrow loss to No. 2 UCLA in Clearwater. The Seminoles also split with No. 19 Baylor, knocked off No. 21 Arkansas in a tournament at Fayetteville, Ark., and defeated No. 22 UCF in Orlando. Yes, there were losses but FSU’s schedule was loaded – 11 of the 28 games were against ranked teams. The Seminoles also set a school record with 22 runs scored in a Feb. 8 win over Detroit Mercy.

Women’s tennis: Coach Heather Hyde picked up her 300th victory in February. And there was a fun afternoon at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center as there was a rare 1 vs. 2 showdown. The No. 1 Tar Heels narrowly held off FSU to take a 4-3 victory.

Women’s track and field: Junior Ka’Tia Seymour won the ACC indoors 60-meter title in a Notre Dame facility record time of 7.17, moving into a share of No. 2 on the Noles’ alltime list. In the 200 final she broke her own FSU record, winning in 22.82 and breaking the ACC Championship and facility record. And as an encore Seymour anchored the 4×400 relay to a third-place finish, locking up her record third consecutive ACC Championship Track MVP.

Women’s golf: Beatrice Wallin led the way with an average of 72 and also fired the best round (66) of the spring season. Amanda Doherty picked up a tournament victory in Guadalajara, Mexico, the first of the senior’s career. Doherty rallied from three strokes back with nine holes to play to record the victory. The women’s team also hosted its Seventh Annual Florida State Match-Up at Bay Point in Panama City, Fla., as a fundraiser for victims of Hurricane Michael.

Men’s tennis: Dwayne Hultquist grabbed his 350th win in February. The No. 25 Seminoles were building momentum with ACC wins over Clemson and Georgia Tech. FSU was clearly poised to make an 18th straight NCAA Tournament appearance. Men’s golf: John Pak won at Mobile, Ala., and took the Seminole Intercollegiate title. His seven tournament titles are just one short of Nolan Henke’s program-record eight championships. Pak led the team with an average of 69.40 per round, while Jamie Li was just behind at 70.39. FSU looked like it was in position for a 15th straight NCAA postseason appearance.

Men’s track and field: The FSU men pulled away with a resounding victory (by 31 points) over runner-up Virginia Tech to claim the Seminoles’ 13th ACC indoor track and field title. Trey Cunningham won an ACC record third straight title in the 60-meter hurdles, breaking his own meet record (7.60 seconds). Cunningham was followed by two more FSU hurdlers as Caleb Parker took second and Braxton Canady Beach volleyball: FSU opened the season No. 2 (only behind No. 1 UCLA). The Seminoles played host to a large group of schools for a season-opening tournament and knocked off No. 9 Stetson and No. 16 TCU, No. 7 Cal Poly and No. 13 South Carolina. FSU then defeated No. 10 Grand Canyon and No. 17 South Carolina. FSU went 12-1 with its only loss to No. 4 Southern Cal.

NICKLAUS HELPS FSU DEDICATE SEMINOLE LEGACY GOLF COURSE

By JERRY KUTZ, RETIRED SR. VICE PRESIDENT SEMINOLE BOOSTERS & CURRENT OWNER, PUBLISHER OF THEOSCEOLA.COM

A crowd of 300 or more were seated in gold folding chairs facing the 18th green for the dedication of the Seminole Legacy Golf Course, designed by Jack Nicklaus and his son Jackie.

The moment was significant, historic for Florida State University and for the Nicklaus family who were seated in the audience.

Jack, who played golf at Ohio State, addressed the crowd wearing a golf cap with the Seminole logo on the front, the number 35 on the side and the words “Go Nicky” on the back, a reference to grandson Nick O’Leary, who played tight end on the Seminoles 2013 Championship team.

Afterwards, he addressed the media and spoke to the name Seminole Legacy Golf Club.

“Here at Florida State we have a great legacy coming here,” Jack said. “One of my sons (Steve) was here. Jackie has had three of his kids here. My son, who came earlier to play football here, he has a son here. And then of course I have my grandson (Nick O’Leay) who played football here. We have had a lot of people come here and have a pretty good legacy to start with so we might as well put it on the golf course.” The word legacy has another meaning as well. “We have started a new thing we are calling Legacy and this is the first one we have done,” said Jack, who has designed more than 300 courses, 50 to 60 of which have been codesigns with his son Jackie. “Legacy is basically passing the baton from me to my son to put what knowledge we have learned over time on this property.”

I had the chance to play the course on Friday thanks to an invitation from Steve Brown, a Seminole Booster donor and member. Diana Azor played in our foursome. She and husband Jorge made a leadership gift to the course, commemorated on the 17th tee box.

While the course is a redesign, Nicklaus did not scrape it flat and start over. He preserved almost every tree, re-routing fairways through openings. There are enough similarities to elicit memories for returning alumni.

“We treated it as a raw piece of property and re-did a golf course on it,” Nicklaus said.

“I think you are going to find it’s a good test of golf,” he said. “One of the two things I like to do with a golf course is to make it aesthetically pleasing. I think a lot of people really like to have some place that’s pretty but they also like to have something that has some good golf shots in it. If you have something that has good shots in it and is aesthetically pleasing, that’s a good combination.”

Since the course will be home to the Seminole golf team, Nicklaus stretched it to challenge the low handicap players but put in a number of forward tee boxes, some from just 6,400 yards, to make the course playable for the rest of us.

“(Men’s golf coach) Trey Jones said every golf course they make, the players make it a miniature golf course, so we put 7,800 yards in it,” Nicklaus said, “but you still make it so the average golfer can play it with different sets of tees and things.”

Carrying a 17 handicap, I qualify as an average golfer, so I was very happy to play all the way forward.

The course is scenic and very playable from tee to green. The greens, which are a Nicklaus trademark, undulate and are just as challenging as advertised. While the greens are mostly guarded, Nicklaus did cut the non-collegiate golfers a break with some open faces.

“It is a strong golf course,” Jackie explained. “We don’t have a lot of forced carries. You can bounce it around and don’t have to be able to hit flop shots onto the greens.”

“The greens have a lot of jazz in them,” Jackie said, which based on pin placement should make every round interesting. Better golfers than I say the course plays eight strokes more difficult than the old course from the back tees, and I believe it as you need binoculars to see the forward tees from the tips. But degree of difficulty is not what Jackie wants golfers to be talking about after their round. His goal is for them to say, “Gosh, I can’t wait to play this course again.” Mission accomplished, Jackie.