FGCU Softball: A-Sun Conference Tournament

With the final six seeds locked in, six of the seven teams from the A-Sun will be competing in the A-Sun Conference Softall Tournament.

The six teams in the seed order are the ones going to the tournament:

1. USC Upstate (41-11, 14-4)
2. Kennesaw State (35-16, 11-6)
3. UNF (30-25, 9-9)
4. FGCU (26-28, 8-9)
5. Lipscomb (35-18, 8-10)
6. Jacksonville (30-23, 8-10)

Stetson (26-21, 4-14) was eliminated by JU in the final series and was not eligible to play in the tournament not just because of their conference record, but also because there is an odd number of teams with softball in the A-Sun. NJIT does not have a softball team in their athletic programs and the newest member of the A-Sun, the University of Northern Alabama (UNA) will not appear until the 2018-19 school year.

Out of all the teams in the A-Sun by overall record, Upstate is the strong seed in the tournament while FGCU is somewhat the weakest, but that doesn't always mean anything because anything can change.

The scenario of the tournament goes like so:
1. Upstate and KSU have a first round bye.
2. Seeds 3-6 will play in opening rounds. UNF will face JU while FGCU faces Lipscomb.
3. The tournament is double elimination.
4. The winner of the tournament will claim an automatic bid for the national tournament.

In the last series of games, FGCU played Lipscomb in their final conference series at home.

In the first game, FGCU took the first one with a 3-2 win in extra innings. sophomore Riley Randolph was credited with the win after throwing nine innings while giving up two runs on four hits while walking one and striking out seven batters. Randolph went into a pitching dual with sophomore Mandy Jordan. Jordan was the leader in wins in the A-Sun conference (22).

The hero of the game was junior Brianne Innamorato. Innamorato went 4-5 in with a double and three singles, one of them being the one that drove in the game-winning run in the ninth inning.

Another big help was from junior LuLu Newmark. Newmark 1-3 and hit a solo home run that hit off the scoreboard.

In the second game, Lipscomb would get a revenge match and beat FGCU 10-2.

The rubber match was to decide who would claim the No. 4 seed in the tournament. If FGCU would have won the second game against Lipscomb, they would get a chance to become the No. 3 seed, but Upstate would need to sweep UNF to help. But since Lipscomb won, FGCU would have to fight for the No. 4 seed.

On the mound for the third game was senior Taylor Wade. Wade pitched in the second game, but was pulled out in the fifth.

Hope to redeem the last game, she would face Jordan again.

The first two innings went by fast. Going into the bottom of the third, things changed.

It started with a lead off walk to sophomore Morgan Sutherland. After a sacrifice bunt by junior Natalie Lopez, junior Kelsey Huff would walk and senior Jeanie Verderese would then single to left to load the bases for sophomore Racquel Fournet. Fournet would hit a single to right, bringing Sutherland. Innamorato would then hit a base-loaded two run double to right center that drove in Huff and Verderese.

Jordan would be pulled after 2.1 innings pitched and senior McCarley Thomas would pitch the rest of the game.

After a Newmark walk to once again load the bases, junior Brittany McGuire would drive Fournet home as the fourth and final run on a bases-loaded single before freshman Morgan White struck out and Sutherland grounded out to end the inning. FGCU batted around in the fourth inning.

Wade would finish the game on cruise control and FGCU would win 4-0 and claim the No. 4 seed.

Wade threw a complete game shutout while giving up seven hits and walking two batters.

Verderese was the only FGCU player that had a multi-hit game going 2-3 with two singles and a run scored.

As a result of her performance, Innamorato was named the A-Sun Player of the Week.

In addition, Verderese and Fournet were named members of the A-Sun All-Academic Team.

Senior pitcher Lexi Shubert from USC Upstate was not only named on the A-Sun All-Academic Team unanimously, but she was also named A-Sun Scholar Athlete of the Year.

So the brackets for the first two games are as followed:

No. 3 UNF will play No. 6 JU at 3 pm while No. 4 FGCU plays No. 5 Lipscomb at 6:30 pm.

Both UNF and JU have played each other in the season and it was UNF who came out on top in the series 2-1. Of course, they are crosstown rivals since they are both located in Jacksonville.

As noted, Lipscomb and FGCU played in the last games of their season with FGCU on top 2-1.

The winner between JU and UNF will face No. 2 Kennesaw and the loser will go into the loser's bracket.

The winner between FGCU and Lipscomb will face No. 1 Upstate.

The tournament will take place at Draper Diamond at Smith Stadium at Lipscomb in Nashville, Tennessee and will air on ESPN3.com

Here are a couple of softball slogans I read:

1. Teamwork makes the dream work

2. Softball is life with the volume turned up. How loud is your game? Crank it up.

3. The true champions believe in the impossible.

The winner of the tournament will claim an automatic bid into the national tournament and will represent the A-Sun.

Last year it was Upstate, but who will it be this year? Of course, I want FGCU to be the winners and anything is possible.

Aside from that, I wish all the teams good luck and may the best team in the A-Sun win.