Last year, the Eagles went 32-27 with a 13-5 record in conference and won the season crown before falling in the A-SUN championship finals to USC Upstate. If FGCU would have won against Upstate in the game, they would have to play them again due to the double elimination rules and Upstate did not lose any of their games in the whole tournament.
The softball team lost five players on the team including A-SUN Player of the Year Alexis "Louie" Ross. This year, they will lose four seniors: catcher Brianna Tourtillott, right-handed pitcher Taylor Wade, second baseman Jeanie Verderese and catcher Amber Plaza.
Tourtillott, a double transfer from the University of Texas- El Paso (UTEP) and NJCAA Tallahassee Community College (TCC) was the starting catcher for FGCU. In 33 games, Tourtillott hit two home runs and drove in nine RBIs.
Wade earned All-Tournament Team honors during the A-SUN softball tournament for her performance in the tournament.
Verderese was captain of the team and a two-time member of the A-SUN All-Academic Team.
Plaza, a transfer from NJCAA Miami Dade College, started nine of her 10 games she played in, although she missed a majority of the season due to an injury.
FGCU signed three new players to the team: freshman right-handed pitcher Morgan White and two transfers: junior third baseman Erica Ward (State College of Florida) and sophomore Caley Chappel (USC Upstate).
White is a graduate from Forest High School where she was the 2015 Florida Miss Softball, a MaxPreps All-American, the Dairy Farmers 6A Player of the Year, Miracle Sports 6A Player of the Year, the OSB Pitcher of the Year and Forest High School Varsity team MVP, so this is her first year playing for the Eagles. White is also the only freshman on the team.
Ward spent her first two years at State College of Florida (SCF) of the Suncoast Coference in FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8. Ward led the Manatees in home runs (11) last season and signed a national letter of intent (NLI) to join FGCU with her remaining two years of eligibility.
Chappel played for conference rival USC Upstate and played against FGCU her freshman year, where the Spartans won the A-SUN championship before falling to Auburn and Jacksonville State in the NCAA regionals. Chappel joins FGCU with three years of eligibility remaining.
Some of the key returning players for FGCU include sophomore left-handed pitcher Riley Randolph, sophomore first baseman Racquel Fournet and junior outfielder Kelsey Huff.
Randolph was the A-SUN Freshman of the Year and A-SUN Pitcher of the Year as well as a member of the A-SUN All-Conference First Team, A-SUN All-Freshman and NFCA All-South Region Third Team. She went 16-5 with a 1.39 ERA and struck out 123 batters.
Fournet was a member the A-SUN All-Freshman Team as well as a member of the A-SUN Al-Conference First Team. She led the team in home runs (7) and doubles (16) last season.
Huff earned A-SUN All-Conerence Second Team honors and was a former member of the A-SUN All-Freshman Team. She led the team in stolen bases last season (25).
In the first two games of the season, FGCU will play two teams: Long Island University-Brooklyn (LIU for short) and the University of Connecticut (U-Conn).
Scouting the Blackbirds:
LIU was 30-27 last season and 14-2 in the Northeast Conference finishing first, where they won their conference tournament before losing to at the time No. 10 LSU and Arizona State in the NCAA National Tournament regional.
They were originally suppose to play FGCU last season, but their match-up was cancelled due to half of the team being sick. LIU will have 16 returners including senior infielder Celinna Cosio and junior right-handed pitcher Erynn Sobieski.
Scouting The Huskies:
U-Conn finished 7th and were 19-33 with a 4-12 record in the American Athletic Conference (AAC). U-Conn will have 10 returning players including sophomore right-handed pitcher Jill Stockley.
FGCU will play four teams that are currently the top 25 in the nation: No. 5 Florida State (FSU), No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 South Florida and No. 25 California State Fullerton.
FGCU has not been to the NCAA College Softball tournament since 2012, so they are preparing themselves for their goal to make it to the national tournament again.
FGCU plays LIU-Brooklyn at 4:30 pm and U-Conn at 6 pm on Friday February 10th at the FGCU Softball Complex.
2 comments:
A lot of great information in this article about the team itself and the past season! I'm looking forward to reading your coverage on the upcoming games. It would be interesting to read an interview with one of the players on their hopes of getting to the NCAA College Softball tournament, since they have not been since 2012.
Pat! I didn't comment on your post last week, so coming back and seeing that you have a new layout is very exciting. I like the new background a lot; not only does it bring some life to your site, but it is also nice to see faces that go with your blog. I love that you supply your audience with all the background information they need in your post, so I don't have to look else where :)
Post a Comment