FGCU Softball: San Diego Classic Preview

The FGCU softball team (7-6) return to land of sun, surf, and Sea World as they travel to San Diego to compete in the three-day San Diego Classic, hosted by San Diego (5-9) and San Diego State (8-7) on Friday, March 1 to Sunday, March 3. The Eagles wrap up their west coast trip with a game against San Diego State on Tuesday, March 5 at 9 pm EST/6 pm PST. The classic will be located at the USD Softball Complex (San Diego) and SDSU Softball Stadium (San Diego State) and will feature Brigham Young (6-7), Long Beach State (6-8), San Jose State (9-5) and RV Boise State (10-2).

Other teams in the tournament include Weber State (3-7), UC-Davis (11-3) and the University of Illinois-Chicago (2-8), but FGCU will not be playing either of those teams.

Last Time Out:
The Eagle are coming off of a 1-0 loss to USF on the road, which put them at 4-9 against the Bulls. The game was originally a doubleheader, but then was changed to one game due to Mother Nature hitting the Tampa Bay area.

At the plate, junior Sammi Poehlman leads the team with a .333 batting average (9-for-27) and three stolen bases. Poehlman was 0-for-2 with two walks against USF.

Freshman Reedy Davenport leads the team with a home run and six RBIs. Davenport was 0-for-2 against USF.

On the mound, senior Riley Randolph (5-3) continues to show her dominance. The reigning A-SUN Pitcher of the Week is holding a 0.26 ERA (9th in the nation) and 72 strikeouts (t-5th in the nation). Despite losing to USF, Randolph struck out 11 batters. This was her fifth game where she had 10 or more strikeouts.

Mrs. Doubles:
A milestone has been in sight for senior Racquel Fournet. Fournet is on track to become the all-time leader in career. Batting .325 with three doubles and four RBIs, Fournet is in a three way tie with Cheyenne Jenks (49, 2006-09) and Courtney Platt (49, 2008-11) as the all-time leader in career doubles and only needs one to claim the milestone.

Softball Fun Fact:
The Eagles are 9-4 when competing in the state of California. Last season, the Eagles played in the Loyola Marymount Tournament where they went 4-0 defeating host LMU (5-0), Providence (3-2, 2-1) and Southern Utah (10-1 via mercy rule).

Scouting San Diego:
The Toreros are coming off of completing a sweep over Southern Utah (12-1 (5), 4-2, 7-2) at home.

Junior Sara Silveyra leads the team with a .412 batting average and seven RBIs. Silveyra was 4-for-7 against Southern Utah with three RBIs.

Fellow junior Lindsay Claire is batting .405 with a home run and a team leading eight RBIs. Claire was 5-for-8 with an RBI against Southern Utah.

On the mound, freshman Madison Earnshaw and junior Delany Heller combine for the Toteros' five wins with a combine 61 strikeouts.

Earnshaw earned a win over Southern Utah where she threw 6.2 innings, giving up two runs on five hits while walking three and striking out seven.

Heller earned two of the Toteros' three wins against Southern Utah finishing with a combined 10 innings, giving up one run on eight hits while walking three and striking out 13.

Scouting San Diego State:
The Aztecs are coming off of a 2-1 loss to Loyola Marymount.

Sophomore Kelsey Munoz leads the team with two home runs and 10 RBIs while batting .326. Munoz was 1-for-3 against  Loyola Marymount.

Meanwhile, junior Marissa Moreno is 5-3 with a 3.81 ERA and 48 strikeouts. Moreno threw two scoreless innings with three strikeouts.

Scouting Brigham Young:
I'm just gonna state this: Brigham Young should not be in the West Coast Conference (WCC). Honestly, I feel like they should be in the Pac-12 because their sports are good enough to be a Power 5 school, but that's my opinion.

The Cougars recently competed in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City, California. They defeated Missouri (7-3) and California-Santa Barbara (3-2) but fell to Nebraska (5-4), Northwestern (1-0) and #4 Oklahoma (5-0).

Junior Rylee Jensen is batting .429 while leading the team with four home runs and 12 RBIs. Jensen was 6-for-20 (.300) with a home run and two RBIs.

Fellow junior Emilee Erickson and senior Ashley Godfrey have three home runs each while batting over .300 (Erickson: .355, Godfrey: .308). Erickson was 2-for-9 with an RBI while Godfrey was 4-for-9 with a home run and two RBIs.

Sophomore Autumn Moffat is 3-3 with a 2.73 ERA and 29 strikeouts. Moffat threw three scoreless innings against UCSB with two strikeouts.

Scouting Long Beach State:
The 49ers also last competed in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City, California where they fell to Arizona (12-3), Northwestern (2-1) and California (12-9) while defeating North Carolina (8-4) in their lone tournament win.

Offensively, junior Sydney McCollum holds a .350 BA with five RBI and one home run while senior Nicole Fry is hitting .320 with nine RBI and four home runs. McCollum, a transfer from CCCAA Cypress College, was 7-for-13 (.538) with an RBI while Fry was 4-for-14 with three home runs (two vs UNC) and seven RBIs.

In the circle, junior Devyn Magnett (1-1) has a 2.95 ERA in 21.1 IP, striking out eight while fellow junior Ashley Coleman (3-4) has appeared in 30 IP with a 4.90 ERA with 21 strikeouts. Magnett threw three scoreless innings in her last game against UNC while Coleman, a transfer from California Baptist, suffered her fourth loss to California, throwing 1.2 innings, giving up three runs on three hits.

Scouting San Jose:
The Spartans recently competed in their hosted Silicon Valley Classic I where they defeated Ball State (5-0), Northern Colorado (3-1), Montana (4-2) and California State-Bakersfield (6-0).

Junior Makayla Englestad leads the team in hits with 15 in 41 at-bats and has a .366 BA, and six RBI. Englestad was 3-for-14 (.231) in the Silicon Valley Classic I with four RBIs.

Freshman Arianna Miranda has a .324 batting average with a home run and a team-high 10 RBI. Miranda was 5-for-14 (.385) with the home run and seven RBIs.

In the circle, freshman Jenessa Ullegue (3-1) has a 1.48 ERA in 33 IP, has pitched a pair shut-outs, and is tied for a team-high 23 strikeouts this season with sophomore Caroline Bowman, who is 4-2 with a 3.35 ERA. In Ullegue's last start against CSU-Bakersfield, she threw a four-hit shutout with five strikeouts for the win, while in Bowman's last game, she threw 2.1 scoreless innings with three strikeouts against Montana. In Bowman's last start, she threw a complete game in the win against Northern Colorado with six strikeouts.

Scouting Boise State:
The Broncos, who received 12 votes in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Top 25 poll, are coming off of a sweep in the GCU Purple Classic, hosted by Grand Canyon University where they defeated Yale (2-1, 5-3), Michigan State (9-1 (5)) and host Grand Canyon (8-0 (6)). Their last loss this season was to #9 Texas.

Senior Morgan Lamb leads the team in hitting with a .471 average. Lamb wwas 5-for-6 (.833) in the GCU Purple Classic with a home run.

Meanwhile, Kora Wade has a .390 BA and leads the team in both hits (16) and runs (12), while Alison Seng owns a team-leading 13 RBI. Wade was 8-for-14 (.571) with a home run while Heng went 5-for-11 (.455) with five RBIs.

In the circle, Kelsey Broadus (5-0) has a 1.35 ERA in 35.2 IP collecting a team-high 23 strikeouts. Gianna Mancha (4-1) owns a 2.66 ERA in 26.1 IP with 16 strikeouts.

In Broadus' last start, the reigning Mountain West Pitcher of the Year threw six scoreless innings with three strikeouts.

For Mancha's last start against Yale, she threw a five hit complete game with three strikeouts.

Series Histories:
While this will be the first time the Eagles play San Diego, San Diego State, Long Beach State, San Jose State and Boise State.

It will be the second time they play Brigham Young. The first time was on March 14, 2009 where the Eagles won 5-4.

Tournament Breakdown:
On Friday, the Eagles will begin with BYU at the SDSU Softball Stadium (5 pm EST/2 pm PST) before traveling to the USD Softball Complex to take on host San Diego (10 pm EST/7 pm PST).

On Saturday, the Eagles will return to the SDSU Softball Stadium to face San Jose State (2:30 pm EST/11:30 am PST) and Long Beach State (5 pm EST/ 2 pm PST).

They will then wrap up the tournament on Sunday against Boise State (12 pm EST/9 am PST) before facing San Diego State on Tuesday (9 pm EST/6 pm PST).

How to Keep Up:
Livestats will be available for all six games that the Eagles play. Fans can also stay up to date on the teams' Twitter pages:
FGCU: @FGCU_Softball

San Diego: @USDSoftball

San Diego State: @AztecSoftball

Long Beach State: @LBSUSoftball

BYU: @byusoftball

San Jose State: @SJSUSpartansSB

Boise State: @BroncoSportsSB

Livestats Link:
vs BYU: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=257716

@San Diego: https://admin.usdtoreros.com/sidearmstats/softball/summary

@San Diego State: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=254391

vs Long Beach State: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=257719

vs Boise State: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=257730

vs San Jose State: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=257718