Lonni Alameda has done many things to make Florida State one of college softball's greatest powers. Some on the field, and some far off it.
That includes the time she sacrificed a day of her vacation to have dinner with one of her players in a central Georgia mall. With that single conversation, Alameda helped lay the foundation to help Jessica Burroughs become one of the best pitchers in school history.
Burroughs, one of the team's more even-keeled personalities, was having difficulties in her first year at FSU. She struggled with her identity and had moments when she was "all over the place."
"Coach A cared so much, and she saw something in me and knew that wasn't me," Burroughs recalled. "She drove all the way to my town in Warner Robins and met me at the mall where I was shopping with my mom. Just to talk to me and see what was going on. She wanted to know if I was OK. She said, 'I see something in you, and what you're doing isn't who you want to be, Jess.'
"She made me believe that. And from that moment, I turned it around. I wanted to be good for her."
Now a redshirt senior, Burroughs is the two-time Atlantic Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year. She's also one of the reasons why starting today, the No. 4 Seminoles (51-6-1) will be a favorite to capture the program's first Women's College World Series title.
FSU opens the NCAA Tallahassee Regional by hosting Princeton (25-18) at 7 p.m at JoAnne Graf Field. But the team's road to Oklahoma City actually began nine years ago when it hired Alameda to become the second head coach in school history.
Alameda was a rising star in the college softball coaching ranks. She was a former Oklahoma player who later became a Stanford assistant. Alameda spent eight seasons with the Cardinal and developed three All-America pitchers.
Her first job as a head coach came in 2004 when she took over the UNLV program. After winning 25 games in her first season, Alameda led the Rebels to 44 wins in Year 2. She would spend three more years at UNLV before coming to FSU in 2009.
"The whole process of me getting hired here was unique anyway because I was really happy at UNLV," Alameda said. "I had known an administrator here that was at Stanford. They had been through a couple interviews and had not found the right fit.
"It was late in the process ... [FSU] said to come out and look. I said, 'Let me come out,' and it was not even 30 minutes, and you just felt that family feel here."
Hiring Alameda gave FSU a long-term successor for Graf, who won 1,483 games and two national slow-pitch college softball titles in 30 seasons.
Alameda has made the NCAA Regional Tournament every year she's been at FSU, but the program took the next step in 2013 when it reached a super regional for the first time since 2006.
Since then, the Seminoles have enjoyed the success only reserved for national powers. They reached the WCWS in 2014 and again in 2016. They've also won the last four ACC regular-season titles and have won the ACC Tournament for four straight years.
"I think what people don't realize is the amount of hours she puts in," said assistant coach Travis Wilson, who has been with the program for six years. "She doesn't have a family. This is her love. These are her kids. This is her program. This is her family. She puts as many hours into this as a mother would into her family."
Wilson said Alameda pours nearly every second of her life into the program, sometimes coming to work in the morning and not leaving until well after midnight. From watching game film to organizing team functions, she's dedicated in a variety of ways.
"The freshmen, they live just over there in the dorms," Wilson said. "With her being here all the time, whether it's after class, after practice, after tutoring, all of that, they can come by here late at night and she's here for all of them.
"They can talk life, help them with anything, and she's just always here. And the girls know that."
Alameda said she learned the importance of building relationships from her parents while growing up in the Northern California town of El Dorado Hills, about 20 miles outside of Sacramento.
Alameda and her family lived on 10 acres of land. Her mom loved horses, while her dad was an avid fisherman and hunter. If there was someone who needed a place to border their horse, the Alamedas always obliged.
Alameda recalled a moment from her youth when her father turned their family barn into a home for someone who had fallen on hard times and needed a place to stay.
"My family has always been very giving," Alameda said. "They've always wanted to help people, and that's always been in my nature."
Alameda said those childhood experiences were one of the reasons she wanted to make sure her program had a family-like atmosphere.
She routinely takes an interest in her players' lives outside the game. The most recent example came when redshirt sophomore pitcher Meghan King learned one of her best friend's mothers was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer.
King, Alameda and the rest of the program sent Holly Svekis, who lives in South Florida, a care package filled with inspirational notes to let her know she was not alone.
"She's put that trust and respect and developed everyone to become the best person that they can and the best player they can be," Burroughs said. "That's what makes her such a good coach and such a good mentor for everyone that she's around."
Alameda's approach has not only worked at FSU. It's also been successful when she coaches professional softball in the summer.
Along with her position with the Seminoles, Alameda also is the head coach for the USSSA Pride, which plays in National Pro Fastpitch, the only professional women's softball league in the United States. The Pride are based out of Viera, Fla., a suburb of Melbourne.
In her first season last summer, she led the Pride to a 37-16 mark and reached the league's championship series. Her team is comprised of some of the nation's best players, including Lauren Chamberlain, who holds the NCAA record for most home runs in a career.
The NPF recently held its college draft, which saw Burroughs go first and Seminoles first baseman Alex Powers go in the second round. They'll both be playing with Alameda and the Pride when FSU's season comes to an end.
"There have been a few [college coaches who've coached pro softball] but it's not for everybody," said Cheri Kempf, who has been the commissioner of NPF since 2007. "The thing about Lonni is she is a person who, in my experiences with her, views life as the glass is half-full.
"She will tell her players not to limit themselves, and she lives by that."
Kempf, who is also a college softball commentator for ESPN, said "there's no question" Alameda is one of the best softball coaches in the nation. She said Alameda's personality has created a culture in which players want to win for their coach more than they do for themselves.
Burroughs agreed.
If the Seminoles were to win a national championship, she said, there would be tears of joy for Alameda because of what she's done to build Florida State into a national power.
"The game is for her. We want to win this national title for Coach A. We want to win this national title for her because of everything she's given to us," Burroughs said. "You can ask every person on this team who they want to win this national championship for. Of course it's for this team because we've put so much hard work into it, but it's for her.
"She is the coach that deserves a national title. "
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