FGCU vs. FSU Softball Preview

As spring break came to a close, softball does not stop to rest, not even during March Madness as noted that the men's basketball team is set to face FSU in the first round of the 2017 NCAA national tournament. FGCU is the No. 14 seed while FSU is the No. 3 seed.

Aside from basketball, FGCU is also scheduled to face FSU in softball. FGCU (13-9) had just recently played a series of three games against Holy Cross and Ball State. They won all three games beating Holy Cross twice (12-9 on Tuesday and 3-0 on Wednesday) and Ball State (3-1).

Leading the offense from those three games was junior Erica Ward and sophomore Racquel Fournet. Ward had five RBIs, but was unable to play the rest of the series due to a knee injury. Fournet had seven RBIs in the series including four in the first game against Holy Cross.

On the mound, sophomore Riley Randolph led the charging in pitching. In the three games, Randolph had two wins and a save with a total of 12 strikeouts in the series.

Scouting FSU:
FSU is, by far, going to be the biggest challenge for FGCU. The Seminoles are the Number one team in the nation (subject to change) and are currently 22-1-1 with their most recent series wins against Virginia Tech. Last season, the Seminoles was 55-10 with a 21-2 record in conference and made it to the college world series before falling to Auburn in their final game.

Offensively, players to keep a look out for are junior outfielder Morgan Klaevemann, redshirt senior first baseman Alex Powers and junior infielder Jessica Warren.

Klaevemann, a "slapper" is mainly know for her speed. She is tied with the most hits (32) and leads in stolen bases (18). Looking at highlights on how she leads off for a stolen base and slapping ability, the best thing to do is be cautious when she's bunting or slapping for a hit. Klaevemann was All-ACC First Team, NFCA Southeast All-Region Third Team and Cosida Academic All-District 4 First Team

Powers currently leads the team in batting average (.478) with three home runs and 19 RBIs. Powers is the reigning ACC Player of the Year, and was members of the All-ACC First Team, WCWS All-Tournament Team and ACC All-Tournament Team last season. Klaevemann was members of the NFCA Southeast All-Region Third Team, All-ACC First Team, and Cosida Academic All-District 4 First Team last season.

Warren is seemingly the power bat behind FSU. She currently leads the team in home runs (6) and RBIs (24). Warren was a NFCA Third Team All-American and members of the NFCA Southeast All-Region Second Team, All-ACC First Team, and the ACC Tournament MVP. Power is key from Warren.

On the pitching side, the duo of redshirt senior Jessica Burroughs and redshirt sophomore Meghan King will be something to keep watchful eyes on the mound.

Burroughs has an 11-1 record with 0.80 ERA and two saves while striking out 103 batters and giving up 10 runs, 28 hits and 14 walks in 69.2 innings. Burroughs is the defending ACC Pitcher of the Year and a member of the WCWS All-Tournament Team, All-ACC First Team, NFCA Southeast All-Region Second Team and an NFCA Third Team All-American.

King is currently 10-0 with one save and an 0.88 ERA and in 63.1 innings, she gave up 54 hits, 11 runs and 15 walks while striking out 45 batters. King was a member of the All-ACC First Team and ACC All-Tournament Team.

Klaevemann, Powers, Warren, Burroughs and King are also FSU Softball Tribe Members.

As far as each season, this is the first time that both FGCU and FSU are facing each other in softball, but as for facing a top 25 team, it's not FGCU's first rodeo. The first time that FGCU faced a top 25 team, since they made the jump from NCAA division two to NCAA division one in 2008, was against Depaul University, who at the time, was the No. 13 team in the nation and split the series. The last time FGCU beat a top 25 team was this season. They faced then No. 21 Fresno State in the Triple Crown Sports Puerto Vallarta Challenge in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and won by a score of 4-3 and it was the fifth time in history that FGCU beat a top 25 team in the nation.

So for softball fans, it would seem like FSU would be the victor in the series, but the saying "Anything can happen," can still come into play. FGCU and FSU start their series on Tuesday at 6 pm and then play Wednesday at 4:45 PM, and during the Tuesday game, it is a blue out for fans to wear blue and on the Wednesday game, it is "Throwback Days" where FGCU will wear throwback uniforms from previous seasons.

After that series with FSU, FGCU will play in the Battle at the Beach against Canisius on Wednesday at 7 PM, IUPUI and Iowa State at 4:45 PM and 7 PM on Thursday, Canisius again at 12:15 PM and Iowa State again at 5 PM on Saturday and finish up the series with a 10 AM game against Drexel and a 12:15 PM game against Cleveland State.