For anyone who has followed the Florida State softball team's dominating run through the regular season and into the postseason, they've likely noticed a familiar term.
It's posted on social media with a familiar hashtag. It's mentioned in conversations around the park. It's even been spray-painted on a bed sheet and draped from the parking garage beyond left field.
The term is "spark," and it's meaning has a backstory.
Before the season, the Seminoles went through a military-based team-building exercise where they had to build a bonfire. They just had to do it without a lighter or matches.
"We had a Navy SEAL and Marine there. We went out and built this big bonfire that took them like five hours to build," Seminoles coach Lonni Alameda said. "The kids did not have matches. They had to learn how to create a fire with petroleum jelly, cotton and some kindling."
The message to the team was simple but powerful.
"If you can create a spark and feed it energy," Alameda said, "you will create a flame. And if you put your flames together, you'll have a huge fire."
Ranked No. 4 in the nation, the Seminoles (54-6-1) certainly have been hot throughout this season.
They breezed through last week's NCAA Tallahassee Regional and will start a best-of-three series at 5 p.m. Friday against No. 18 LSU (45-19) at JoAnne Graf Field. Should the Seminoles beat the Tigers, they would advance to the Women's College World Series for the second straight year and the third time in four seasons.
And while the term "spark" primarily has been reserved for players who've come through in big moments, it also has extended to the growing number of fans who've cheered on the Seminoles. Included in that group are members of FSU's famed "Animals of Section B," who normally support the baseball team but have been known to help out with softball as well.
Unlike at Dick Howser Stadium, where they sit in one section of the stands, the Animals split up into two groups for softball games. There's a small section planted in the grandstands between home plate and first base. Then a larger group has camped out in the Traditions Way Parking Garage beyond the left-field fence.
"It's fun, we have come out here in the past and rooted them on," said Shannon Thomas, a 1999 FSU graduate who is the "zookeeper" of the Animals. "It's great that the baseball team is on the road, allowing us a little more freedom to get more people over here."
The Animals have been a Dick Howser Stadium mainstay for nearly 40 seasons, and they've carried over certain elements of their repertoire to softball.
They've sung "O Canada" every time the Seminoles have come up to bat in the fifth inning, and it worked last weekend with FSU scoring at least one run in the fifth of all three games.
"Having that home-field energy here really hypes us up on the field,” said junior third baseman Jessie Warren, who hit her 22nd home run of the season in the fifth inning of FSU's 8-5 win over Georgia last Sunday. "It keeps us going in the dugout. Hearing them (the Animals) out in the stands brings a lot of energy to the field."
Just ask Georgia junior pitcher Brittany Gray. Her lengthy pre-pitch routine was an easy target for the Animals last weekend. Whenever Gray would do something like turn or read her wristband, the Animals yelled out what she was doing as it happened.
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Not everything has gone according to plan in the postseason, however.
Whenever FSU has a prime scoring opportunity, the Animals like to chant, "Ducks on the Pond," with the accompaniment of a duck whistle. But the group was forced to cease by FSU Police last weekend due to NCAA rules prohibiting artificial noisemakers during postseason events.
That didn't diminish the fans' passion, however. And the crowds at this weekend's Super Regional could take things to an even higher level, as LSU is expected to bring plenty of their supporters to Graf Field.
LSU has one of the more devout followings in college softball. The Tigers averaged 1,839 fans at home games last season, which was the sixth-most in the nation. This year, they're drawing about 2,000 per game, and some are expected to make the 6 1/2-hour trip from Baton Rouge, La.
"The atmosphere, from the parking garage to our stands, the cheers back and forth, it's is somewhat of a home-field advantage," Alameda said. "It is also just a spark for us as players to know we have people in our hip pocket that are wanting the moment to be excellent for us. [It] is a really cool energy boost for us."
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