FGCU Softball vs Jacksonville Preview

Conference is officially going underway during the spring season. Already off the bat or in this case the "racket," both the FGCU men's and women's tennis teams started off against Stetson University. The women played first and won 6-1 while the men won 5-2.

For FGCU softball, conference starts Saturday at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. The Eagles (18-13) start the opening of conference by playing Jacksonville University (JU).

The Eagles had just wrapped up a series in the Battle at the Beach Invitational winning four out of the six games they played in.

The players for FGCU that were key factors during the invitational were sophomore Riley Randolph, junior Bri Innamorato, freshman Morgan White, sophomore Racquel Fournet, and junior Kelsey Huff.

Randolph, a lefthanded pitcher, was 2-0 in the invitational throwing 14 innings, giving up four runs on 10 hits, walking three batters and striking out 17.

Innamorato hit .250 overall with four hits and four RBIs in the series.

White, the only freshman and right-handed pitcher rotated with pitching and batting. Batting wise, White went 1-6 with two RBIs, but pitching wise, she pitched six shutout innings against Cleveland State. While she gave up four hits and three walks, White had a game-leading 10 strikeouts in the end.

Fournet had four doubles in the series and is currently tied with FSU's Alex Powers in the nation with the most doubles (16). She still leads the team in RBIs (28).

Huff hit .350 with three stolen bases in the series.

JU enters into conference with a 20-12 overall record. They competed against two top 25 team: 6-0 loss to Florida (now No. 2) and 10-0, 7-0 losses to Alabama (now No. 9).

Scouting wise, the JU players to keep a sharp eye on are junior catcher/infielder Heather Roberts, junior pitcher Madison Ragan and senior pitcher Taylor Thorpe.

Roberts, their power bat, currently leads the team in home runs (6) and RBIs (32).

Ragan (4-3, 2.89 ERA) not only pitches well, but bats well too. She is hitting .319 with 29 hits, four home runs and 25 RBIs.

Thorpe (7-3-1, 2.03 ERA) is the ace of the team and leads the team in strikeouts (25).


FGCU is 19-4 all time against JU and the last meet they played, FGCU swept JU 8-1, 8-0, 7-2 in Jacksonville to clinch the season crown and become the No.1 seed in the A-Sun Tournament.

The series between FGCU and JU starts the doubleheader Saturday and 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. and will be aired on A-Sun TV. It is also a Blue out, so marketing is asking people  to wear blue during the games. The series will conclude with one game on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Afterwards, FGCU will go on the road to UNF before coming back for another home series against USC Upstate.