Kissimmee, FL-March 2,2016-The USSSA Florida Pride are pleased to announce Florida State Head Coach Lonni Alameda has signed a contract to become the Pride’s head coach for the 2016 National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) season. The three-time ACC Coach of the year will lead a Pride team that finished as regular season champions a season ago.
“We are more than excited to have a person and coach like Lonni Alameda lead the Pride. She has had a lot of success at the college ranks winning and developing players. We believe she’ll be a great leader for our professional players and a great representation of USSSA. We’re thankful to Florida State for allowing her to coach the Pride this season,” said Pride General Manager Don DeDonatis.
Alameda is currently in her eighth season leading the Florida State softball program. She has helped the Seminoles win the last two ACC Championships and led Florida State back to the Women’s College World Series (WCWS) for the first time since 2004. Under her guidance, the Seminoles have returned to their ranks as one of the top college softball programs in the country.
“I’m honored to coach in the NPF,” said Alameda. “I think the National Pro Fastpitch league is an outstanding opportunity to grow our game and to be the head coach of the USSSA Pride with all of their great athletes, tradition and reputation that they have is going to be an amazing experience.”
Prior to Florida State, Alameda spent five years as head coach at UNLV, eight years as an assistant at Stanford, and two seasons as an assistant at Barry University in Miami. She has experience at the international level as a player and a coach serving as an instructor for the Aruba and Spanish national teams and playing professionally in Europe following her college career.
As a player, Alameda began her career as a pitcher at St. Mary’s University before transferring to the University of Oklahoma and becoming a two-sport athlete in softball and volleyball.
Alameda will inherit a young USSSA Pride roster looking to capture their fourth NPF Championship title. The Pride return the last two NPF Most Outstanding Players (Andrea Duran, Kelly Kretschman) and the last two NPF Rookies of the Year (Madison Shipman, Shelby Pendley). Pitcher Jordan Taylor, a 2015 All NPF Team member, set a league record last year with 11 saves. With the retirement of Cat Osterman, the pitching staff will lean on proven starters Keilani Ricketts and Chelsea Thomas.
“I’m really excited to learn from the athletes and to continue to create the culture and environment of growing the game for professional fastpitch, collegiate softball and softball in general. We all have the responsibility to keep moving this game forward. As we have people like Don DeDonatis who nurtures such a great learning environment and experience for athletes, it is truly an honor to be a part of.”
Alameda will join the Pride upon the completion of Florida State’s college season. The rest of the USSSA Pride coaching staff will be announced at a later date. She will learn what rookies will be added to the roster on April 14th at the NPF’s Annual College Player Draft.
The 2016 USSSA Pride season kicks off June 10th in Conroe, TX against the newest NPF Franchise, the Scrap Yard Dawgs. For all information, check out the Pride’s website at www.dev.usssapride.com and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
About USSSA Florida Pride: The USSSA Florida Pride is a professional franchise in the National Pro Fastpitch League that is owned and operated by USSSA. The amateur organization of USSSA has multi-sport coverage and encompasses teams and players from the United States and abroad.
About USSSA: USSSA is headquartered in Osceola County, Florida. USSSA is the World’s Largest Multi-sport Athletic Organization. Founded in 1968, USSSA has grown to over 3.7 million participants, competing in 13 nationally sanctioned sports including Baseball, Fastpitch, Slow Pitch, Karate, Basketball, Soccer and more! For more information on USSSA and to register your team visit USSSA.com. Also be sure to visit USSSAToday.com for the latest USSSA.
About National Pro Fastpitch: National Pro Fastpitch is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. The league, created to give elite female fastpitch players the opportunity to pursue a professional career in their chosen sport, has operated since 1997 under the names of Women’s Pro Fastpitch (WPF) and Women’s Pro Softball League (WPSL). NPF is the Official Development Partner of Major League Baseball in the category of women’s fastpitch softball since 2002.