FGCU Softball: A-Sun Conference Torunament Update 1

The FGCU softball team had just competed in two days of competition in the A-Sun Conference Softball Tournament and are still fighting.

FGCU (28-29) is the No. 4 seed going into the tournament.

The first team they played was against No. 5 Lipscomb (35-19). Lipscomb and FGCU met in the last series of games with FGCU winning the series 2-1 (Gm 1 3-2 FGCU, Gm 2 10-2 LU, Gm 3 4-0 FGCU). The winner of that matchup would play No. 1 seed USC Upstate in the winners bracket.

Hoping for a revenge match to go into the winners bracket of the tournament, Lipscomb sent All-Academic Team member McCarley Thomas to face sophomore Riley Randolph.

It was scoreless from the first inning to the top of the second inning.

Then FGCU struck first.

Junior A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Brianne Innamorato started with a lead-off walk and then advanced to third base on a single from junior LuLu Newmark. After junior Brittany McGuire flew out, senior Brianna Tourtillott hit a pop fly in the infield for a single after the catcher, pitcher and third baseman failed to catch it leaving the bases loaded. Sophomore Morgan Sutherland drove in the first run with a bases loaded walk bringing in Innamorato. Junior Natalie Lopez also drew a bases loaded walk that drove in Newmark.

With the score 2-0, junior A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Kelsey Huff drove in the third on a bloop single to center field driving in Tourtillott.

Lipscomb changed pitchers and put in senior  A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Mandy Jordan.

The bats ended after senior All-Academic Team member Jeanie Verderese hit an infield fly and sophomore A-Sun Second Team All-Conference and All-Academic Team member Racquel Fournet grounded out to end the second.

In the third inning, the run support continued.

After Innamorato grounded out, Newmark hit a solo home run to left and increased the lead to 4-0 before McGuire and Tourtillott ended the inning. Newmark's home run was the fourth of her season and is currently tied with the most home runs with McGuire and Fournet.

There Randolph took over from there with plenty of defensive help.

Randolph was in a few base running situations.

In the seventh inning, Randolph struck out catcher Abby Fenichal to start. After giving up a single to Sarah Higgins, Randolph faced A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Caitlin Plocheck, who leads the team in home runs (9). Randolph struck her out before giving up another single to A-Sun All-Freshman Team member Peyton Ward. The game ended thanks to the Tourtillott. Higgins attempted to steal third base, but the senior catcher caught her stealing and got her out to end the game.

FGCU would win the game 4-0.

Randolph threw a complete game shutout giving up four hits and striking out nine batters.

Newmark was the only eagle with the multi-hit game going 2-2 with a walk and the solo home run.

Lipscomb threw six walks to FGCU.

Earlier, No.3 UNF faced No. 6 JU and won 6-5 on a walkoff win meaning JU would face Lipscomb in the losers bracket.

FGCU would face Upstate while UNF faced No. 2 Kennesaw State.

On day two of the tournament. FGCU would fall to Upstate 3-0 and be sent to the loser's bracket.

Upstate's senior pitcher, and A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Lexi Shubert would get the win over Randolph before senior A-Sun Pitcher of the Year and A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Holly McKinnon would be credited with her fourth save of the year.

UNF was also sent to the loser's bracket after falling 2-1 to KSU.

Facing double elimination, JU, UNF, FGCU and Lipscomb played.

Lipscomb faced JU and won 4-1. JU was the first team eliminated.

FGCU and UNF faced each other in the season and UNF won the series 2-1 (Gm 1 2-0 UNF, Gm 2 6-4 UNF, Gm 3 5-2 FGCU)

Head coach David Deiros would once again send Randolph. This was Randolph's third straight game she played in. UNF would send senior Logan Green.

After a scoreless first, FGCU struck first. After Newmark lined out and McGuire flew out, Tourtillott would start with a two out infield single. After a Sutherland walk, Verderese would hit a bloop single and drive in Tourtillott before Lopez grounded out.

By the fourth inning, Randolph was getting tired.

After walking the first batter, Tourtillott would once again stop the runner from being in scoring position as Co-Defensive Player of the Year and A-Sun All-Freshman Team member Kayla McGory was caught trying to steal second base.

From there, Randolph would have sophomore A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Dominica Cocuzza groundout before striking out junior Ashley Niesman.

Senior Taylor Wade would enter the game in the fifth inning and Newmark and Tourtillott would trade places.

Tourtillott would go from catcher to designated player while Newmark would go from designated player to catcher.

It remained scoreless until the top of the seventh.

Tourtillott would start with a leadoff single. Junior Emily Demurias would pinch run for Tourtillott and Sutherland would walk. After a sacrifice bunt from Verderese, Lopez would hit a bunt single to drive in Demurias for the second run. Huff would follow with a squeeze sacrifice bunt to drive in Sutherland for the third run before Innamorato ended the inning with a ground out.

Despite walking one batter and giving up a single in the bottom of the seventh, Wade would finish the inning scoreless.

FGCU would win 3-0 and UNF would be the second team eliminated from the tournament.

Tourtillott was 3-3 with a run scored on three singles and had three of FGCU's five hits.

Randolph was credited with the win after throwing four shutout innings while giving up two hits and two walks while striking out one batter.

Wade was credited with the save after throwing three scoreless inning and giving up two hits and one walk while striking out one batter.


Kennesaw faced Upstate in a hard fought battle for another bye round. It was also a battle between senior A-Sun Player of the Year Courtney Sutter and McKinnon. Sutter would hit her 14th home run of the A-Sun Pitcher of the Year, but ultimately  Upstate would and win 5-4 on a game-winning sacrifice bunt from A-Sun Second Team All-Conference Brittany Case and bringing in A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Ansley Gilstrap. KSU will end up in the loser's bracket while Upstate will have a bye-round and be in the championship game to face either Lipscomb, FGCU or KSU from the loser's bracket on Saturday at 1 pm.

Four teams remain in the tournament with their RPI ranking points:

No. 1 Upstate RPI: 41
No. 2 KSU RPI: 46
No. 4 FGCU RPI: 86
No. 5 Lipscomb RPI: 50

If Upstate were to lose in the championship game, they would play one of three teams again at a time in the late afternoon or early evening. The winner would automatically earn a spot in the national tournament.

Last year, Upstate represented the A-Sun after beating FGCU in the championship game and made it to the Auburn Super Regional in the Women's College World Series. They would beat Oregon State of the Pac-12 Conference 5-2 before falling to Auburn of the SEC 6-1 and Jacksonville State of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) 3-2.

Here are some facts about the four remaining softball teams in the tournament:

1. FGCU has not been in the national tournament since 2012
2. Lipscomb has not been to the national tournament since 2010
3. Upstate has been in the national tournament representing the A-Sun four years in a row (2013-16)

The games will still air on ESPN3.com. Lipscomb and FGCU will face each other once again on Friday at 3 pm CT. The winner of that game will face KSU at 5:30 pm CT and the third team will be eliminated from the tournament.

The winner of the tournament would earn an automatic bid in the national tournament, but which regional they play in will be determined by a selection show. It is also possible that one of the teams will earn an at-large bid.

In my opinion, honestly, if we make the tournament, then the team I want us to face in the tournament is either Florida, the current No. 1 team in the nation, FSU, the current No. 4 team in the nation or USF.

Why USF, FSU or UF? Because we faced all three teams in the past in the 2012 national tournament at the Tampa Super Regionals. We beat Florida before 2-1 and then fell to USF 8-3 before falling to Florida 6-2. With FSU, they beat us at home and the third would be the charm to attempt to beat the Seminoles or Bulls and rubber match with the Gators.