From 2021 to 2023, Florida Southwestern Softball was unstoppable. The Buccaneers won three straight NJCAA national championships. However, a seventh-place finish in 2024 left a bad taste in the team's mouth. With the 2025 season about to begin, FSW is working hungry to climb back up to the mountain top.
“We’re looking forward to getting to the World Series," FSW Softball head coach Robert Iamurri said.
“Each new year, you come with a new team, and it’s a new start," FSW sophomore pitcher Emily Allegood added. "We’re really raw, really talented. So I think this is going to be a good year.”
This year's team looks a lot different compared to past seasons. FSW has 15 freshmen on its roster compared to just eight sophomores.
“Depth-wise and choice-wise, we have a good base," Iamurri said. "So, we’ll have our great moments, and I think we’re going to have a few of our bad moments as far as growing pains with 15 freshmen.”
Youth does not mean Florida Southwestern has a lack of talent. As Iamurri and his staff always do, they recruited some highly skilled players. One of the new faces is a Southwest Florida native. Coming off a state championship at Evangelical Christian School, Zoe Yzaguirre is now suiting up for FSW.
“Given the opportunity to come here at a two-year school and just fall back in love for the game has been really exciting," Yzaguirre said.
The former Sentinel will be a big piece to the Buccaneers' pitching rotation.
FSW enters the 2025 campaign ranked seventh in the country. A top-10 ranking would be music to most teams' ears, but the Bucs spent all of last season ranked in the top five, if not in first. So, the slight dip is added fuel to the team's fire.
“People will be like, 'Oh, they’re that national team that lost, and now they’re in seventh place,' but here we are," Yzaguirre said. "We’re going to step back up and win it again.”
A hungry and vengeful FSW is a dangerous thought for the rest of the junior college softball world. The Buccaneers are shifting from the hunted to the hunters this year.
“Sometimes you play not to lose when you’re a three-time defending champion," Iamurri said. "Now it’s on somebody else. It’s on six other people in front of us. The target is on them. It’s good to go hunting again.”
FSW Softball begins its season on Sunday at the JUCO Kickoff Classic in Madeira Beach. The Buccaneers will play their first nine games on the road before their home opener against New College of Florida on Tuesday, Feb. 11.