FGCU Softball: FGCU Invitational Day Two Recap

The FGCU softball team (8-2) walked away with two wins Saturday night, first taking down Memphis (5-4), 5-1, followed by an 8-0 run-rule victory over UIC (2-2). In the process, the program recorded its 650th win overall.

"The two wins tonight were not easy and we knew that coming into the day," said head coach David Deiros. "Both games were very close, competitive and I'm glad we were able to bounce back against Memphis, after dropping one to them last night. We have one more game left Sunday afternoon against #24 Arkansas so we're excited to get back out there against another very good team. Lastly, it's such an amazing feat to get to 650 wins, so a huge thank you to everyone – Eagles past and present – that have been a part of this journey since the program's inception in 2003."

FGCU 5 | Memphis 1
Scoreless through four and a half frames, Hope Hernandez put the Eagles on the board in the bottom of the fourth. Abbey Thomas hit a one-out single as Hannah Shemansky would pinch-run. Up next, Hernandez drove the first pitch she saw to left center for the double, scoring Shemansky. Two batters later, pinch-hitter Jordyn Gendron plated home Hernandez with a single up the middle.

One batter later, Johneisha Rowe reached on an infield single but a fielding error at first allowed Gendron to score from third to make it 3-0 FGCU. The Green and Blue pushed its lead to 5-0 in the bottom of the sixth. Poehlman singled to start the frame, stole second and moved to third on a grounder. Hernandez produced her second RBI chopping one to the shortstop to score Poehlman. Haley Morrell laid down a sac bunt to move Hernandez to second, as Kacie Huber knocked one to right field for the 5-0 advantage.

Memphis scored in the final inning but it was more than enough insurance on the board for Sarah Lawton as the junior tossed her second complete game of the season, moving to 4-0. She fanned a season-high nine batters while conceding just three hits in the process.

FGCU 8 | UIC 0
In the bottom of the third, Maddy Johnson hit a leadoff single to get things going as Huber then reached on a fielding error. After both Eagles advanced one base on a pass ball, Johnson was plated home on a grounder from McKenna Batterton.

FGCU added another run in the bottom of the fifth courtesy of an RBI single from Johnson scoring Sammi Poehlman, who singled and stole second earlier.

The Eagles ended the contest via run-rule posting six runs in the bottom of the sixth, highlighted by six hits including one UIC error. Morrell was hit with the bases loaded for a run as three-straight singles from Rowe, Batterton and Vaughn made it 6-0.  Facing one out still, Reedy Davenport snuck a base hit through the right-side scoring Rowe first, then the throwing error to second base, allowed Batterton to win it for the Eagles, 8-0.

In the circle, Marissa Mesiemore pitched six innings and struck out a season-high 10 batters, moving to 4-2 overall this season. At the dish, Johnson finished her night going 3-for-3 while Rowe plated two runners. 

Up Next:
FGCU returns back to the diamond Sunday afternoon taking on #24 Arkansas (6-1) at 12:30 p.m.