After a hard fought tournament, FGCU fell to USC Upstate in the championship game of the A-Sun Conference Softball Tournament.
FGCU (30-30) fell to Upstate (44-11) 8-0 in five innings via the mercy rule.
Upstate claimed their third consecutive A-Sun Championship title and will be going to the regionals of the national tournament.
It was upsetting to hear FGCU lost to Upstate, but they fought hard throughout the whole tournament and was named runner-up in the end.
Four players from Upstate, four players from FGCU and one player each from Kennesaw, UNF and Lipscomb were all named to the All-Tournament Team.
Representing Upstate were senior A-Sun Pitcher of the Year and First Team All-Conference member Holly McKinnon, junior A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member, All-Academic Team member and Scholar-Athlete of the Year Lexi Shubert, sophomore Kayla Hussey and sophomore A-Sun First Team All-Conference member and All-Academic Team member Ansley Gilstrap. Gilstrap was also named the MVP for the All-Tournament Team.
Representing FGCU were senior All-Academic Team member Jeanie Verderese, junior LuLu Newmark, senior Bree Tourtillott and sophomore Riley Randolph.
redshirt sophomore Jessie Mullen from Kennesaw, sophomore First Team All-Conference member and All-Academic Team member Navia Penrod from UNF, and sophomore Second Team All-Conference member and All-Academic Team member Mandy Jordan from Lipscomb were also named members of the All-Tournament Team, but were not in attendance due to being eliminated from the tournament.
It is upsetting that FGCU did not make it to the regionals for the national tournament, but working their butts off to make it that far is worth being a winner.
I wish Upstate the best of luck to represent the A-Sun in regionals and the possibility of making it to the national tournament.
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Showing posts with label FGCU Softball 2017. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FGCU Softball 2017. Show all posts
FGCU Softball: A-Sun Conference Torunament Update 2
With four teams, the A-Sun Conference Softball Tournament continues on at Draper Diamond at Smith Stadium.
The four teams that were remaining were No. 1 USC Upstate, No. 2 Kennesaw State, No. 4 FGCU and No. 5 Lipscomb. Lipscomb is the host of this year's A-Sun Conference softball tournament
Earlier in the tournament, Jacksonville (JU) and North Florida (UNF) were eliminated. JU was the first team eliminated after losing to UNF 6-5 in the first round and then losing 4-1 to Lipscomb, who lost 4-0 to FGCU in the first round as well.
UNF won 6-5 against their crosstown conference rival, but then lost to 2-1 to KSU and dropped to the loser's bracket and faced FGCU, who lost 3-0 to Upstate. UNF would end up being the second team eliminated after losing to FGCU 3-0.
With the four teams remaining, Kennesaw received a brief bye and awaited the winner between FGCU and Lipscomb.
FGCU would send sophomore Riley Randolph to the mound again. Randolph pitched four straight games in the tournament. She would face off against senior Mandy Jordan.
At the top of first inning, Randolph had no trouble getting the first three outs.
In the bottom of the first, junior A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Kelsey Huff led off with a single, but then was called out after leaving first base early to get a stolen base. So with the bases empty, junior A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Bri Innamorato walked. Sophomore A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Racquel Fournet would hit a single followed by a walk from junior LuLu Newmark.
With a 1-1 count, one out and the bases loaded, junior Brittany McGuire was up to bat, but then the weather drastically changed and rain came down.
After a three hour rain delay with the softball players on both teams dancing to "Whip Nae Nae" and the head coaches of both teams sliding on the tarp that covered the field, the game resumed. McGuire would strikeout as well as senior Bree Tourtillott to end the inning.
Lipscomb would strike first in the top of the second after freshman Chloe Yeager hit an RBI single that drove in sophomore Sarah Higgins, but the bats for FGCU would not be silenced.
Sophomore Morgan Sutherland lead thing off with a double to left. After a sacrifice bunt from senior A-Sun All-Academic Team member Jeanie Verderese, junior Natalie Lopez would bring would hit an RBI fielder's choice and drive in Sutherland. After Huff reached first on an error and advance Lopez to second, Innamorato would pop out giving Fournet an opportunity to give FGCU the lead they needed and she did. Fournet would hit a double to left center driving in Lopez and Huff before Newmark walked and McGuire popped out to end the inning.
From there, Randolph went on cruise control and struck out the Lipscomb's final batter and FGCU would win 3-1.
Fournet had the only mulit-hit game for FGCU going 2-3 with a single and the two run double.
Randolph, who would win her 18th game of the year, pitched a complete game giving up one run on four hits, while walking one batter and striking out six.
As a result, Lipscomb, the host team, was the third team eliminated from the tournament.
FGCU will face Kennesaw and the winner will face Upstate in the championship game on Saturday at 1 pm with another if necessary.
At 8 pm, FGCU and KSU faced off to decide who plays Upstate and who is eliminated. Both teams last played each other in the season. The series between them was tied. Kennesaw won the first game 4-3 in eight innings and FGCU won the second game 3-0. FGCU was ahead of KSU 1-0 going into the fifth inning, but then after heavy rainfall, the rubber match was cancelled and all the stats of the third game were nullified.
Randolph finally got a small break from pitching and coach Deiros put in senior Taylor Wade to start the game. KSU would go with redshirt junior Abigail Green.
The bats of both teams were really quiet and it was a pitcher's duel between Wade and Green for five innings.
In the top of the sixth, bats were finally waking up a bit.
After Huff and Lopez grounded out as the first two outs, Fournet struck a two out double to left center. Newmark would then strike a single to left, moving Fournet to third base for Innamorato. Innamorato has had a big share of driving in game winning or go ahead runs that are late in the game. On the first pitch, Innamorato connected with a first pitch single to left, driving in Fournet to score before McGuire lined out to end the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth, Wade was in a little fix.
After getting the first two outs, she walked A-Sun Player of the Year and A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Courtney Sutter. After Sutter was replaced by Andrea Summey to pinch run. After a wild pitch thrown, Wade gave up a single to A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Noelle Winkles, but a ground out from A-Sun All-Freshman Team member Katey Lynch to Verderese saved Wade from giving up a run.
KSU pulled out Green and put in redshirt freshman Alley Cutting for an inning of relief in the top of the seventh. FGCU went scoreless and couldn't produce another run.
At the bottom of the seventh, Wade gave up a single to Jessie Mullen and got one out on ground out to third.
Deiros pulled her out and put Randolph in for a save situation with a runner in scoring position. After A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Taylor Denton to Randolph, it was up to A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Hannah Thomason to keep the Owls alive, but a ground out to McGuire proved too much for her and FGCU would win 1-0.
As a result, Kennesaw was the fourth team eliminated from the tournament, so it all comes down to two teams: FGCU and Upstate.
Wade, who earned her 10th win of the year, threw 6.1 innings giving up five hits and walking two batters and striking out one.
Randolph earned her second save of the game after throwing two thirds of an inning.
Fournet's double in the game was her 16th of the year.
FGCU will face Upstate once again in the championship game at 2 pm ET, but this is not the first time the two teams met in the championship.
Last year, Upstate won the conference championship as the No.2 seed while FGCU was the No. 1 seed in the conference. FGCU lost the game 5-1 and Upstate would go to the national tournament.
This could be dubbed as a rematch and vengeance game for FGCU against Upstate. Whoever wins represents the A-Sun in the named super regional in the national tournament.
I would guess that the pitcher's duel for both teams in the championship game would probably be Randolph and Mckinnon.
The four teams that were remaining were No. 1 USC Upstate, No. 2 Kennesaw State, No. 4 FGCU and No. 5 Lipscomb. Lipscomb is the host of this year's A-Sun Conference softball tournament
Earlier in the tournament, Jacksonville (JU) and North Florida (UNF) were eliminated. JU was the first team eliminated after losing to UNF 6-5 in the first round and then losing 4-1 to Lipscomb, who lost 4-0 to FGCU in the first round as well.
UNF won 6-5 against their crosstown conference rival, but then lost to 2-1 to KSU and dropped to the loser's bracket and faced FGCU, who lost 3-0 to Upstate. UNF would end up being the second team eliminated after losing to FGCU 3-0.
With the four teams remaining, Kennesaw received a brief bye and awaited the winner between FGCU and Lipscomb.
FGCU would send sophomore Riley Randolph to the mound again. Randolph pitched four straight games in the tournament. She would face off against senior Mandy Jordan.
In the bottom of the first, junior A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Kelsey Huff led off with a single, but then was called out after leaving first base early to get a stolen base. So with the bases empty, junior A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Bri Innamorato walked. Sophomore A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Racquel Fournet would hit a single followed by a walk from junior LuLu Newmark.
With a 1-1 count, one out and the bases loaded, junior Brittany McGuire was up to bat, but then the weather drastically changed and rain came down.
After a three hour rain delay with the softball players on both teams dancing to "Whip Nae Nae" and the head coaches of both teams sliding on the tarp that covered the field, the game resumed. McGuire would strikeout as well as senior Bree Tourtillott to end the inning.
Lipscomb would strike first in the top of the second after freshman Chloe Yeager hit an RBI single that drove in sophomore Sarah Higgins, but the bats for FGCU would not be silenced.
Sophomore Morgan Sutherland lead thing off with a double to left. After a sacrifice bunt from senior A-Sun All-Academic Team member Jeanie Verderese, junior Natalie Lopez would bring would hit an RBI fielder's choice and drive in Sutherland. After Huff reached first on an error and advance Lopez to second, Innamorato would pop out giving Fournet an opportunity to give FGCU the lead they needed and she did. Fournet would hit a double to left center driving in Lopez and Huff before Newmark walked and McGuire popped out to end the inning.
From there, Randolph went on cruise control and struck out the Lipscomb's final batter and FGCU would win 3-1.
Fournet had the only mulit-hit game for FGCU going 2-3 with a single and the two run double.
Randolph, who would win her 18th game of the year, pitched a complete game giving up one run on four hits, while walking one batter and striking out six.
As a result, Lipscomb, the host team, was the third team eliminated from the tournament.
FGCU will face Kennesaw and the winner will face Upstate in the championship game on Saturday at 1 pm with another if necessary.
At 8 pm, FGCU and KSU faced off to decide who plays Upstate and who is eliminated. Both teams last played each other in the season. The series between them was tied. Kennesaw won the first game 4-3 in eight innings and FGCU won the second game 3-0. FGCU was ahead of KSU 1-0 going into the fifth inning, but then after heavy rainfall, the rubber match was cancelled and all the stats of the third game were nullified.
Randolph finally got a small break from pitching and coach Deiros put in senior Taylor Wade to start the game. KSU would go with redshirt junior Abigail Green.
The bats of both teams were really quiet and it was a pitcher's duel between Wade and Green for five innings.
In the top of the sixth, bats were finally waking up a bit.
After Huff and Lopez grounded out as the first two outs, Fournet struck a two out double to left center. Newmark would then strike a single to left, moving Fournet to third base for Innamorato. Innamorato has had a big share of driving in game winning or go ahead runs that are late in the game. On the first pitch, Innamorato connected with a first pitch single to left, driving in Fournet to score before McGuire lined out to end the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth, Wade was in a little fix.
After getting the first two outs, she walked A-Sun Player of the Year and A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Courtney Sutter. After Sutter was replaced by Andrea Summey to pinch run. After a wild pitch thrown, Wade gave up a single to A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Noelle Winkles, but a ground out from A-Sun All-Freshman Team member Katey Lynch to Verderese saved Wade from giving up a run.
KSU pulled out Green and put in redshirt freshman Alley Cutting for an inning of relief in the top of the seventh. FGCU went scoreless and couldn't produce another run.
At the bottom of the seventh, Wade gave up a single to Jessie Mullen and got one out on ground out to third.
Deiros pulled her out and put Randolph in for a save situation with a runner in scoring position. After A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Taylor Denton to Randolph, it was up to A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Hannah Thomason to keep the Owls alive, but a ground out to McGuire proved too much for her and FGCU would win 1-0.
As a result, Kennesaw was the fourth team eliminated from the tournament, so it all comes down to two teams: FGCU and Upstate.
Wade, who earned her 10th win of the year, threw 6.1 innings giving up five hits and walking two batters and striking out one.
Randolph earned her second save of the game after throwing two thirds of an inning.
Fournet's double in the game was her 16th of the year.
FGCU will face Upstate once again in the championship game at 2 pm ET, but this is not the first time the two teams met in the championship.
Last year, Upstate won the conference championship as the No.2 seed while FGCU was the No. 1 seed in the conference. FGCU lost the game 5-1 and Upstate would go to the national tournament.
This could be dubbed as a rematch and vengeance game for FGCU against Upstate. Whoever wins represents the A-Sun in the named super regional in the national tournament.
I would guess that the pitcher's duel for both teams in the championship game would probably be Randolph and Mckinnon.
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.
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.
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.
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.
FGCU Softball: Final Home Games Preview
The FGCU softball team will wrap up their season with a final three game series at home against Lipscomb.
FGCU (24-27, 6-8 A-Sun) on a three series road trips against Kennesaw, USF and Stetson.
During their series with KSU (32-11, 8-6 A-Sun), FGCU lost 4-3 in extra innings in the first game and won the second game 3-0. During the third game of the series, FGCU was ahead 1-0 going into the fifth inning, but the game was underway a heavy rain delay. As a result, the third game was nullified.
Still struggling, FGCU tried at their next road series to USF (31-21, 8-6 AAC) for non-conference play, but to no avail, they were swept and lost 1-0 and 9-2 to the Bulls.
The final road trip came when they finished their last road trip against Stetson (26-18, 4-11 A-Sun) in success. In the first game, FGCU won 5-1, but lost 3-0 in the second game. In the rubber match, FGCU won the series 2-1 with a 13-3 (5 innings) win.
sophomore left-handed pitcher Riley Randolph got two of the three wins in the series pitching 12 innings giving up four runs (one earned) on 12 hits while walking four batters and striking out five batters.
Junior LuLu Newmark (3-10 in the series) brought the offense in the first game going 1-4 with a three run home run and going 2-3 with two singles, a walk, one RBI and three runs scored in the third game.
Junior Brianne Innamorato (3-10) was 1-3 in game two with a single and went on a tear in the third game going 2-3 with two singles, a walk, a three run home run, five RBIs and three runs scored.
FGCU will be playing their last conference series at home against Lipscomb.
Lipscomb (34-16, 7-8 A-Sun) had just finished and lost a three game series against Kennesaw State. They lost 9-1 (6 innings) in the first game, 2-0 in the second and 6-2 in the third.
Players to keep a eye out for from Lipscomb are junior infielder/pitcher Caitlin Plocheck, sophomore pitcher Mandy Jordan, senior pitcher McCarley Thomas and freshman infielder/outfielder Peyton Ward.
Plocheck is seemingly the powerhouse of the team. She is hitting .361 and lead the team in home runs (9) and RBIs (30).
Jordan is currently 22-8 with a 1.31 era. In 32 games, Jordan has thrown 26 complete games (seven shutouts) in 198 innings giving up 48 runs (37 earned) on 139 hits while walking 40 and striking out 232 batters.
Thomas, one of three seniors, is 11-7 with a 2.48 era and in 21 games, she has thrown 13 complete games (three shutouts) in 113 innings while giving up 52 runs (40 earned) on 95 hits while walking 47 and strking out 111 batters.
Ward is the speedster and leads the team in stolen bases (18).
Overall, FGCU is 8-14 overall against Lipscomb and the last time the two teams met was at Lipscomb and Lipscomb won the series 2-1 (9-2 FGCU, 0-9 Lipscomb and 1-6 Lipscomb).
As it stands for the moment, the standings in the A-Sun are as noted:
1. *Upstate (38-11, 11-4 conference)
2. *Kennesaw (35-16, 11-6 conference)
3. *UNF (29-22, 8-6 conference)
4. *Lipscomb (34-16, 7-8 conference)
5. *FGCU (24-27, 6-8 conference)
6. JU (27-22, 5-8 conference)
7. Stetson (26-18, 4-11 conference)
*Clinched a spot in the A-Sun Championship
Upstate, Kennesaw and UNF have already clinched a spot in the A-Sun tournament, which will be hosted at Lipscomb.
In the other final conference series, JU will face Stetson and UNF will face Upstate.
Already facing the possibility of elimination, Stetson has to win at least two of their final series games against JU or they will be eliminated.
Here are a few scenarios for FGCU to get between the three and four seeds:
1. They can attempt for the No. 3 seed if they sweep Lipscomb and Upstate sweeps UNF.
2. They can attempt for the No. 4 seed if they sweep or win two of three games against Lipscomb.
FGCU and Lipscomb will play Thursday at 5 pm and 7 pm to open the series and Friday at 1 pm to close the series.
This will also mark as the last games of the season for both FGCU and Lipscomb as well as for the seniors of both teams.
FGCU (24-27, 6-8 A-Sun) on a three series road trips against Kennesaw, USF and Stetson.
During their series with KSU (32-11, 8-6 A-Sun), FGCU lost 4-3 in extra innings in the first game and won the second game 3-0. During the third game of the series, FGCU was ahead 1-0 going into the fifth inning, but the game was underway a heavy rain delay. As a result, the third game was nullified.
Still struggling, FGCU tried at their next road series to USF (31-21, 8-6 AAC) for non-conference play, but to no avail, they were swept and lost 1-0 and 9-2 to the Bulls.
The final road trip came when they finished their last road trip against Stetson (26-18, 4-11 A-Sun) in success. In the first game, FGCU won 5-1, but lost 3-0 in the second game. In the rubber match, FGCU won the series 2-1 with a 13-3 (5 innings) win.
sophomore left-handed pitcher Riley Randolph got two of the three wins in the series pitching 12 innings giving up four runs (one earned) on 12 hits while walking four batters and striking out five batters.
Junior LuLu Newmark (3-10 in the series) brought the offense in the first game going 1-4 with a three run home run and going 2-3 with two singles, a walk, one RBI and three runs scored in the third game.
Junior Brianne Innamorato (3-10) was 1-3 in game two with a single and went on a tear in the third game going 2-3 with two singles, a walk, a three run home run, five RBIs and three runs scored.
FGCU will be playing their last conference series at home against Lipscomb.
Lipscomb (34-16, 7-8 A-Sun) had just finished and lost a three game series against Kennesaw State. They lost 9-1 (6 innings) in the first game, 2-0 in the second and 6-2 in the third.
Players to keep a eye out for from Lipscomb are junior infielder/pitcher Caitlin Plocheck, sophomore pitcher Mandy Jordan, senior pitcher McCarley Thomas and freshman infielder/outfielder Peyton Ward.
Plocheck is seemingly the powerhouse of the team. She is hitting .361 and lead the team in home runs (9) and RBIs (30).
Jordan is currently 22-8 with a 1.31 era. In 32 games, Jordan has thrown 26 complete games (seven shutouts) in 198 innings giving up 48 runs (37 earned) on 139 hits while walking 40 and striking out 232 batters.
Thomas, one of three seniors, is 11-7 with a 2.48 era and in 21 games, she has thrown 13 complete games (three shutouts) in 113 innings while giving up 52 runs (40 earned) on 95 hits while walking 47 and strking out 111 batters.
Ward is the speedster and leads the team in stolen bases (18).
Overall, FGCU is 8-14 overall against Lipscomb and the last time the two teams met was at Lipscomb and Lipscomb won the series 2-1 (9-2 FGCU, 0-9 Lipscomb and 1-6 Lipscomb).
As it stands for the moment, the standings in the A-Sun are as noted:
1. *Upstate (38-11, 11-4 conference)
2. *Kennesaw (35-16, 11-6 conference)
3. *UNF (29-22, 8-6 conference)
4. *Lipscomb (34-16, 7-8 conference)
5. *FGCU (24-27, 6-8 conference)
6. JU (27-22, 5-8 conference)
7. Stetson (26-18, 4-11 conference)
*Clinched a spot in the A-Sun Championship
Upstate, Kennesaw and UNF have already clinched a spot in the A-Sun tournament, which will be hosted at Lipscomb.
In the other final conference series, JU will face Stetson and UNF will face Upstate.
Already facing the possibility of elimination, Stetson has to win at least two of their final series games against JU or they will be eliminated.
Here are a few scenarios for FGCU to get between the three and four seeds:
1. They can attempt for the No. 3 seed if they sweep Lipscomb and Upstate sweeps UNF.
2. They can attempt for the No. 4 seed if they sweep or win two of three games against Lipscomb.
FGCU and Lipscomb will play Thursday at 5 pm and 7 pm to open the series and Friday at 1 pm to close the series.
This will also mark as the last games of the season for both FGCU and Lipscomb as well as for the seniors of both teams.
FGCU Softball vs USC Upstate preview
With Conference starting, the FGCU softball faces another task during conference: USC Upstate.
FGCU (21-16, 3-3 A-SUN) had just recently finished a tough three game road trip against UNF. Despite losing the first two games (0-2, 4-6) on Saturday, they managed to finish with a 5-2 win.
Some of the players that were key in the series against UNF were junior outfielder Kelsey Huff, sophomore left-handed pitcher Riley Randolph and first baseman sophomore Racquel Fournet.
Huff was 3-11 in the series with a triple and two RBIs.
Randolph, in 13 innings, went 1-1 and gave four runs (three unearned) with four strikeouts in the series.
Fournet was 4-12 in the series.
The player from FGCU who has a lot of experience with Upstate is sophomore Caley Chappel. Chappel played for her now conference rival and batted .200 with three RBIs. Chappel also went to last years national tournament.
To scout out the Spartans, players to look at are senior pitchers Holly McKinnon and Lexi Shubert and junior first baseman Karla Beasley.
McKinnon is 16-5 with a 1.06 ERA and in 139 innings, she gave 28 runs on 78 hits, walked 32 and struck out 158 batters.
Shubert is 13-4 with a 1.82 ERA and in 107.2 innings, she gave up 30 runs on 70 hits, walked 30 and struck out 120 batters.
Series overall, FGCU is 10-15 against Upstate including losing last years A-SUN Championship game at the FGCU Softball Complex. Although, if FGCU would have beaten Upstate, they would have to face them a second time to avoid being eliminated, but after losing in the tournament to Upstate earlier before the championship game, it was a win or go home game (no pun intended).
FGCU will face the Upstate three times on Saturday at 4 and 6 pm and on Sunday, they will play at 1 pm, which will also be senior day for five seniors: catchers Bree Tourtillott and Amber Plaza, right-handed pitcher Taylor Wade, utility player Evita Leter, and second baseman and team captain Jeanie Verderese.
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| Me with Bree Tourtillott |
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| Me and Amber Plaza |
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| Me with Jeanie Verderese (left) and Taylor Wade (right) |
FGCU vs. JU Softball Opening Conference Series
The FGCU softball team (20-14, 2-1 A-Sun Conference) opened conference with a 2-1 series win at home against Jacksonville University Dolphins (21-14, 1-2 A-Sun Conference).
The Eagles had a 6-2 win in the first game and a 3-2 loss in the second game on Saturday before a 4-2 win to conclude the series on Sunday.
Sophomore Riley was set to pitch for FGCU while JU used Taylor Thorpe to matchup.
The Eagles and Dolphins went scoreless in the first two innings until JU scored on a RBI single by sophomore infielder Danielle Baker, but things turned around for FGCU.
Senior infielder Jeanie Verderese started with a one out single to center field. After junior Kelsey Huff lined out, junior Natalie Lopez dropped a bunt single that also moved Verderese to second. The big bat came into play. Sophomore Racquel Fournet provided a big spark with a first pitch three run home run to center field to put the Eagles ahead 3-1 before junior LuLu Newmark lined out to end the inning.
After a scoreless fourth inning, JU cut the lead to 3-2 after Baker hit a RBI double in the fifth.
Going scoreless in the bottom of the fifth and the top of the sixth, FGCU brought back more in the run category. Fournet led off the inning and hit another first pitch home run to start the run category. Two batters later, junior Bri Innamorato hit a single to second base. The next batter, junior Brittany McGuire hit a single to center. Sophomore Morgan Sutherland came in to pinch hit for redshirt sophomore Ashley Swiderski and hit a first pitch double to left center to drive in Innamorato and McGuire for two more insurance runs before Verderese fouled out to end the inning.
Randolph (11-3, 2.40 ERA) pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on six hits, walked three and struck out seven batters.
On nine hits, Fournet led the charge offensively. Fournet went 2-3 with the two home runs and four RBIs.
Huff, Lopez, Innamorato, Newmark, McGuire, Verderese and Sutherland all had one hit each.
In the second game, senior Taylor Wade took the mound for the team against junior Madison Ragan.
After a scoreless first, the Dolphins struck first on a Ragan RBI single.
Two innings later, Swiderski started with a one out triple and scored on a Innamorato sacrifice fly. With two outs, McGuire hit a solo home run to left center, but the Dolphins would jump ahead with two RBI singles by freshman Bethany Kursch and junior Jordan Daniels to win the game 3-2.
Wade (7-7, 3.08 ERA), despite getting the loss, threw a complete game, but gave up all three runs, with two of them earned, on six hits, walked and struck out two batters.
McGuire went 1-3 with the home run.
Huff and Swiderski had two hits each.
FGCU had four stolen bases in the game (Huff, Fournet, Innamorato and Verderese).
The final game happened on Sunday and the winner would win the series between the two teams.
Randolph took the mound once again for FGCU while JU went with Ragan.
In the top of the first inning, Randolph struck out two of the her three batters faced.
FGCU struck first in the run category. After Huff and Lopez were out, Fournet reached on base on a fielding error. With the bases loaded after back-to-back singles from Innamorato and Swiderski, McGuire drove the first run in. It looked like the Dolphins got the third out, but a costly error from Daniels after attempting to get the out at third, brought Fournet in to score.
Randolph struck out one batter, but JU tied the game in the second after a sacrifice Fly from freshman Makenzie Buss.
FGCU would then regain the lead in the third. Lopez started with a leadoff single and a stolen base before she scored a run on a Innamorato RBI double.
Randolph would strike out two batters at the top of the fourth. In the bottom of the fourth, senior Bree Tourtillott would get hit by a pitch to start the inning. Junior Emily Demurias pinch ran for Tourtillott, but was out after leaving the first base early. Sutherland would walk, but was then out after a fielder's choice from Verderese. Huff would then line a triple to right field, bringing in Verderese. Lopez then drove in Huff on an RBI single to the shortstop.
Two scoreless innings later, Randolph went to finish up the game in the top of the seventh. She struck out the first batter, After giving up a single and a fielding error occurring, JU would get another run on the board after a RBI single from senior Ciara Jones, but it was not enough as Randolph got the last batter to ground out to her ending the game 4-2 for FGCU.
Huff, Lopez and Innamorato had two hits and an RBI each.
Randolph would get the win once again after throwing another complete game. Randolph gave up two unearned runs on five hits while walking one and striking out eight batters. At the end of the series, FGCU is 2-1 in conference and is in a three way with USC Upstate and Kennesaw State.
FGCU continues conference play with a road trip to Jacksonville to face UNF before coming back home to face USC Upstate where they will have a blue out for the Saturday games and on the Sunday game, it will be senior day, where FGCU recognizes four seniors on the team: Jeanie Verderese, Amber Plaza, Bree Tourtillott and Taylor Wade. They would also recognize Upstate's seniors as well during the game: Ryan Rector, Abbie Millete, Holly McKinnon and Lexi Shubert.
The Eagles had a 6-2 win in the first game and a 3-2 loss in the second game on Saturday before a 4-2 win to conclude the series on Sunday.
Sophomore Riley was set to pitch for FGCU while JU used Taylor Thorpe to matchup.
The Eagles and Dolphins went scoreless in the first two innings until JU scored on a RBI single by sophomore infielder Danielle Baker, but things turned around for FGCU.
Senior infielder Jeanie Verderese started with a one out single to center field. After junior Kelsey Huff lined out, junior Natalie Lopez dropped a bunt single that also moved Verderese to second. The big bat came into play. Sophomore Racquel Fournet provided a big spark with a first pitch three run home run to center field to put the Eagles ahead 3-1 before junior LuLu Newmark lined out to end the inning.
After a scoreless fourth inning, JU cut the lead to 3-2 after Baker hit a RBI double in the fifth.
Going scoreless in the bottom of the fifth and the top of the sixth, FGCU brought back more in the run category. Fournet led off the inning and hit another first pitch home run to start the run category. Two batters later, junior Bri Innamorato hit a single to second base. The next batter, junior Brittany McGuire hit a single to center. Sophomore Morgan Sutherland came in to pinch hit for redshirt sophomore Ashley Swiderski and hit a first pitch double to left center to drive in Innamorato and McGuire for two more insurance runs before Verderese fouled out to end the inning.
Randolph (11-3, 2.40 ERA) pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on six hits, walked three and struck out seven batters.
On nine hits, Fournet led the charge offensively. Fournet went 2-3 with the two home runs and four RBIs.
Huff, Lopez, Innamorato, Newmark, McGuire, Verderese and Sutherland all had one hit each.
In the second game, senior Taylor Wade took the mound for the team against junior Madison Ragan.
After a scoreless first, the Dolphins struck first on a Ragan RBI single.
Two innings later, Swiderski started with a one out triple and scored on a Innamorato sacrifice fly. With two outs, McGuire hit a solo home run to left center, but the Dolphins would jump ahead with two RBI singles by freshman Bethany Kursch and junior Jordan Daniels to win the game 3-2.
Wade (7-7, 3.08 ERA), despite getting the loss, threw a complete game, but gave up all three runs, with two of them earned, on six hits, walked and struck out two batters.
McGuire went 1-3 with the home run.
Huff and Swiderski had two hits each.
FGCU had four stolen bases in the game (Huff, Fournet, Innamorato and Verderese).
The final game happened on Sunday and the winner would win the series between the two teams.
Randolph took the mound once again for FGCU while JU went with Ragan.
In the top of the first inning, Randolph struck out two of the her three batters faced.
FGCU struck first in the run category. After Huff and Lopez were out, Fournet reached on base on a fielding error. With the bases loaded after back-to-back singles from Innamorato and Swiderski, McGuire drove the first run in. It looked like the Dolphins got the third out, but a costly error from Daniels after attempting to get the out at third, brought Fournet in to score.
Randolph struck out one batter, but JU tied the game in the second after a sacrifice Fly from freshman Makenzie Buss.
FGCU would then regain the lead in the third. Lopez started with a leadoff single and a stolen base before she scored a run on a Innamorato RBI double.
Randolph would strike out two batters at the top of the fourth. In the bottom of the fourth, senior Bree Tourtillott would get hit by a pitch to start the inning. Junior Emily Demurias pinch ran for Tourtillott, but was out after leaving the first base early. Sutherland would walk, but was then out after a fielder's choice from Verderese. Huff would then line a triple to right field, bringing in Verderese. Lopez then drove in Huff on an RBI single to the shortstop.
Two scoreless innings later, Randolph went to finish up the game in the top of the seventh. She struck out the first batter, After giving up a single and a fielding error occurring, JU would get another run on the board after a RBI single from senior Ciara Jones, but it was not enough as Randolph got the last batter to ground out to her ending the game 4-2 for FGCU.
Huff, Lopez and Innamorato had two hits and an RBI each.
Randolph would get the win once again after throwing another complete game. Randolph gave up two unearned runs on five hits while walking one and striking out eight batters. At the end of the series, FGCU is 2-1 in conference and is in a three way with USC Upstate and Kennesaw State.
FGCU continues conference play with a road trip to Jacksonville to face UNF before coming back home to face USC Upstate where they will have a blue out for the Saturday games and on the Sunday game, it will be senior day, where FGCU recognizes four seniors on the team: Jeanie Verderese, Amber Plaza, Bree Tourtillott and Taylor Wade. They would also recognize Upstate's seniors as well during the game: Ryan Rector, Abbie Millete, Holly McKinnon and Lexi Shubert.
FGCU Softball vs Jacksonville Preview
Conference is officially going underway during the spring season. Already off the bat or in this case the "racket," both the FGCU men's and women's tennis teams started off against Stetson University. The women played first and won 6-1 while the men won 5-2.
For FGCU softball, conference starts Saturday at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. The Eagles (18-13) start the opening of conference by playing Jacksonville University (JU).
The Eagles had just wrapped up a series in the Battle at the Beach Invitational winning four out of the six games they played in.
The players for FGCU that were key factors during the invitational were sophomore Riley Randolph, junior Bri Innamorato, freshman Morgan White, sophomore Racquel Fournet, and junior Kelsey Huff.
Randolph, a lefthanded pitcher, was 2-0 in the invitational throwing 14 innings, giving up four runs on 10 hits, walking three batters and striking out 17.
Innamorato hit .250 overall with four hits and four RBIs in the series.
White, the only freshman and right-handed pitcher rotated with pitching and batting. Batting wise, White went 1-6 with two RBIs, but pitching wise, she pitched six shutout innings against Cleveland State. While she gave up four hits and three walks, White had a game-leading 10 strikeouts in the end.
Fournet had four doubles in the series and is currently tied with FSU's Alex Powers in the nation with the most doubles (16). She still leads the team in RBIs (28).
Huff hit .350 with three stolen bases in the series.
JU enters into conference with a 20-12 overall record. They competed against two top 25 team: 6-0 loss to Florida (now No. 2) and 10-0, 7-0 losses to Alabama (now No. 9).
Scouting wise, the JU players to keep a sharp eye on are junior catcher/infielder Heather Roberts, junior pitcher Madison Ragan and senior pitcher Taylor Thorpe.
Roberts, their power bat, currently leads the team in home runs (6) and RBIs (32).
Ragan (4-3, 2.89 ERA) not only pitches well, but bats well too. She is hitting .319 with 29 hits, four home runs and 25 RBIs.
Thorpe (7-3-1, 2.03 ERA) is the ace of the team and leads the team in strikeouts (25).
FGCU is 19-4 all time against JU and the last meet they played, FGCU swept JU 8-1, 8-0, 7-2 in Jacksonville to clinch the season crown and become the No.1 seed in the A-Sun Tournament.
The series between FGCU and JU starts the doubleheader Saturday and 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. and will be aired on A-Sun TV. It is also a Blue out, so marketing is asking people to wear blue during the games. The series will conclude with one game on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Afterwards, FGCU will go on the road to UNF before coming back for another home series against USC Upstate.
For FGCU softball, conference starts Saturday at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. The Eagles (18-13) start the opening of conference by playing Jacksonville University (JU).
The Eagles had just wrapped up a series in the Battle at the Beach Invitational winning four out of the six games they played in.
The players for FGCU that were key factors during the invitational were sophomore Riley Randolph, junior Bri Innamorato, freshman Morgan White, sophomore Racquel Fournet, and junior Kelsey Huff.
Randolph, a lefthanded pitcher, was 2-0 in the invitational throwing 14 innings, giving up four runs on 10 hits, walking three batters and striking out 17.
Innamorato hit .250 overall with four hits and four RBIs in the series.
White, the only freshman and right-handed pitcher rotated with pitching and batting. Batting wise, White went 1-6 with two RBIs, but pitching wise, she pitched six shutout innings against Cleveland State. While she gave up four hits and three walks, White had a game-leading 10 strikeouts in the end.
Fournet had four doubles in the series and is currently tied with FSU's Alex Powers in the nation with the most doubles (16). She still leads the team in RBIs (28).
Huff hit .350 with three stolen bases in the series.
JU enters into conference with a 20-12 overall record. They competed against two top 25 team: 6-0 loss to Florida (now No. 2) and 10-0, 7-0 losses to Alabama (now No. 9).
Scouting wise, the JU players to keep a sharp eye on are junior catcher/infielder Heather Roberts, junior pitcher Madison Ragan and senior pitcher Taylor Thorpe.
Roberts, their power bat, currently leads the team in home runs (6) and RBIs (32).
Ragan (4-3, 2.89 ERA) not only pitches well, but bats well too. She is hitting .319 with 29 hits, four home runs and 25 RBIs.
Thorpe (7-3-1, 2.03 ERA) is the ace of the team and leads the team in strikeouts (25).
FGCU is 19-4 all time against JU and the last meet they played, FGCU swept JU 8-1, 8-0, 7-2 in Jacksonville to clinch the season crown and become the No.1 seed in the A-Sun Tournament.
The series between FGCU and JU starts the doubleheader Saturday and 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. and will be aired on A-Sun TV. It is also a Blue out, so marketing is asking people to wear blue during the games. The series will conclude with one game on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Afterwards, FGCU will go on the road to UNF before coming back for another home series against USC Upstate.
Wrap Up of the Battle at the Beach Invitational
The FGCU softball team had a busy week as they played and hosted the Battle at the Beach Invitational. They had a total of six games during the week and prior to the BATB Invitational, FGCU had a series against FSU, the No.1 team in the nation and lost both games 7-0 and 13-1 before battling Canisius College and beating them 2-1 in nine innings
The following teams were invited to participate in the invitational: Iowa State, Canisius College, IUPUI, Drexel and Cleveland State.
I took a look at a few of the games that we were not playing in to scouted our competition that we expect to face.
First two games, I was unable to go because I was in Orlando for the men's basketball tournament, but from what I was told that we split the first two games. FGCU beat Iowa State 7-3, but lost to IUPUI 2-1 on Thursday. sophomore left-handed pitcher Riley Randolph got the win against Canisius while senior right-handed pitcher, while Taylor Wade got the loss against IUPUI.
On Friday, FGCU did not play in the invitational as they were preparing for Saturday. When Saturday came, FGCU continued their part with an 8-0 win over Canisius College again.
In the first inning, senior catcher Brianna Tourtillott started the game with an RBI single that drove in junior outfielder Natalie Lopez. Then junior third baseman Brittany McGuire had a fielder's choice that drove in sophomore first baseman Racquel Fournet. One batter later, junior LuLu Newmark drove in Tourtillott before a lineout by junior second baseman Emily Demurias.
In the second inning, junior outfielder Kelsey Huff had an bunt single that drove in Lopez despite it being a throwing error.
Three scoreless innings later, going into the bottom of the fifth, FGCU was back on the scoring side. After a lineout from Huff, Tourtillott began with a standing double. Tourtillott was then pulled out to put a pinch runner for her, and little did I know that a surprise guest had joined the team. Pinch running for Tourtilott was Evita Leter.
Leter came from the FGCU swimming and diving to join the team. The senior from Paramaribo, Suriname is mainly known for swimming in the 2016 Rio Olympics representing her native country. What I was told was that the NCAA cleared her and was eligible to play. When I heard that she was on the softball team, I was thinking at first "Is this real? Is there a hidden camera or digital recorder that's playing tricks on me?" Honestly, I was not fully convinced that this was real and before the game started, I saw her in uniform No. 23, so my eyes did not deceive me after all.
Also, this was the first time that she ever played softball, and she told that she just started on Friday and did not know anything about softball.
Some of her swimming and diving teammates including sophomores Linda Shaw, Georgie Gardener and Doris Eichorn were in attendance to watch their teammate in the game.
Leter advanced to third on a groundout from senior second baseman Jeanie Verderese and would then score after Newmark reached on a throwing error before junior shortstop Brianne Innamorato grounded out to end the inning.
In the sixth inning, Fournet would finish the game and hit a game-winning two run double that ended in 8-0 via the mercy rule.
Randolph got the win after throw a complete game shutout while giving up four hits and striking out eight batters.
FGCU would later face ISU, but fell 5-2 and split the series once again.
During the Saturday games, I saw Jessica and Jaimie Harney, two fellow softball players and twins from the same junior college that me and junior Erica Ward were enrolled in. They came to visit Ward, who is out for the rest of the season.
On Sunday morning, FGCU was scheduled to play Drexel University of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) and Cleveland State of the Horizon League.
The Eagles started off against Drexel. The first three innings were scoreless, but going into the fourth inning, Fournet started by reaching first on a fielding error. After a walk by Newmark, Tourtilott, who played right field in the game, moved the runners into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt. After McGuire popped out, Innamorato drove in the first two runs of the game on a double before senior catcher Amber Plaza popped out.
After a scoreless fitfth inning, the Dragons would drive in three runs after FGCU committed two errors that cost them the lead.
With the bottom of the sixth starting, Fournet flew out to start the inning. Newmark then hit a triple to right field. Head coach David Deiros was not happy about it and took Newmark out and put Demurias to pinch run. Honestly, in her defense, I think Newmark misread what Deiros told her. She was suppose to stay at second, but it looked like Deiros was telling her to run to third, so there may have been some miscommunication. With Demurias on third, Tourtilott was at the plate and on a 1-1 pitch, she hit a game-winning two run home run that put FGCU up 4-3.
In the top of the seventh, Drexel started things off with a triple, but then it looked a little controversial. The next batter grounded out to Verderese and Verderese threw to Plaza, who then threw it to Demurias for a double play.
From a view, it looked like the runner was safe and it should have been tied 4-4, but I found before the second game that the runner did not reach home plate and Plaza did get her in time. Drexel would pop up and ended the game.
Both teams had only four hits in the game. Newmark, Innamorato, Verderese and Tourtillott had the only four hits.
Wade got the win throwing a complete game giving three unearned runs on four hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
The final game of the invitational was between FGCU and Cleveland State. Cleveland State was 2-24 before starting the game.
Instead of Randolph pitching the game, it was freshman right-hander Morgan White that took the mound. White was struggling the past few games, but this time, it was much better than I could imagine.
The first batter White faced hit a single to start. After pop out and another single, I'm thinking "Please let her have this game in her hand" and luckily, my wish came true.
White struck out two batters in the first inning. In the second, she struck one batter. In the third, despite giving up a single and a throwing error being set, White got out of the inning and struck out one batter. White would strike out three of the four batters she faced in the fourth.
After three scoreless inning, FGCU would start the offense. Huff led things off with a triple. After Fournet walked and stole second, Newmark would strikeout and Tourtillott would load the bases with a walk before McGuire drove in Huff for the first run on a sacrifice fly. White would then step up to the plate and hit a pop fly to the infield. It looked like the inning was about to end, but the Cleveland State's shortstop dropped the ball and Fournet would score the second run before Verderese struck out to end the inning.
With White back on the mound, Cleveland State took another crack at her in the fifth. White struck out the first batter and gave up a single before having the next two batters fly out. White had eight strikeouts in the game before going into the sixth inning. The first batter White faced struck out looking. After a fly out with second batter, White walked two straight batters and threw an illegal pitch that advanced the first runner that walked to second, but after that, she struck out her final batter.
During the bottom of the sixth, there was some confusion. After McGuire popped out and White struck out, Innamorato hit a single to center and advanced to third on a throwing error by the second baseman, but something did not look right to the umpires and they gathered together with both Deiros and the head coach of CSU about the situation with Innamorato's advancement.
After a 30 minute delay of looking through the rule book, Innamorato was ok to stay at third. I was very confused with the problem and I could not figure it out. Redshirt sophomore Ashley Swiderski would fly out to end the sixth.
In the seventh, junior right-hander Gabbee Draney came in to get the save and struck out all three batters to end the inning.
FGCU would once again have only four hits. Huff had two and Innamorato and Verderese would have one each.
White earned her second win and threw six innings and gave up all four hits and three walks, but it was the 10 strikeouts that set the bar for the lone freshman. Draney would be credited with her second save of the season.
At the end of the invitational, FGCU ended up 4-2, Canisius (11-13) was 2-2, IUPUI (10-17) and Iowa State (15-16) went 4-1, Drexel (4-7) went 1-4 and Cleveland State went 0-5 in the Battle at the Beach Invitational.
FGCU (18-13) will be starting conference play in the A-Sun on Saturday with two games at home against Jacksonville before wrapping up with one more in the afternoon and heading to UNF for the first conference road trip.
The following teams were invited to participate in the invitational: Iowa State, Canisius College, IUPUI, Drexel and Cleveland State.
I took a look at a few of the games that we were not playing in to scouted our competition that we expect to face.
First two games, I was unable to go because I was in Orlando for the men's basketball tournament, but from what I was told that we split the first two games. FGCU beat Iowa State 7-3, but lost to IUPUI 2-1 on Thursday. sophomore left-handed pitcher Riley Randolph got the win against Canisius while senior right-handed pitcher, while Taylor Wade got the loss against IUPUI.
On Friday, FGCU did not play in the invitational as they were preparing for Saturday. When Saturday came, FGCU continued their part with an 8-0 win over Canisius College again.
In the first inning, senior catcher Brianna Tourtillott started the game with an RBI single that drove in junior outfielder Natalie Lopez. Then junior third baseman Brittany McGuire had a fielder's choice that drove in sophomore first baseman Racquel Fournet. One batter later, junior LuLu Newmark drove in Tourtillott before a lineout by junior second baseman Emily Demurias.
In the second inning, junior outfielder Kelsey Huff had an bunt single that drove in Lopez despite it being a throwing error.
Three scoreless innings later, going into the bottom of the fifth, FGCU was back on the scoring side. After a lineout from Huff, Tourtillott began with a standing double. Tourtillott was then pulled out to put a pinch runner for her, and little did I know that a surprise guest had joined the team. Pinch running for Tourtilott was Evita Leter.
Leter came from the FGCU swimming and diving to join the team. The senior from Paramaribo, Suriname is mainly known for swimming in the 2016 Rio Olympics representing her native country. What I was told was that the NCAA cleared her and was eligible to play. When I heard that she was on the softball team, I was thinking at first "Is this real? Is there a hidden camera or digital recorder that's playing tricks on me?" Honestly, I was not fully convinced that this was real and before the game started, I saw her in uniform No. 23, so my eyes did not deceive me after all.
Also, this was the first time that she ever played softball, and she told that she just started on Friday and did not know anything about softball.
Some of her swimming and diving teammates including sophomores Linda Shaw, Georgie Gardener and Doris Eichorn were in attendance to watch their teammate in the game.
Leter advanced to third on a groundout from senior second baseman Jeanie Verderese and would then score after Newmark reached on a throwing error before junior shortstop Brianne Innamorato grounded out to end the inning.
In the sixth inning, Fournet would finish the game and hit a game-winning two run double that ended in 8-0 via the mercy rule.
Randolph got the win after throw a complete game shutout while giving up four hits and striking out eight batters.
FGCU would later face ISU, but fell 5-2 and split the series once again.
During the Saturday games, I saw Jessica and Jaimie Harney, two fellow softball players and twins from the same junior college that me and junior Erica Ward were enrolled in. They came to visit Ward, who is out for the rest of the season.
On Sunday morning, FGCU was scheduled to play Drexel University of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) and Cleveland State of the Horizon League.
The Eagles started off against Drexel. The first three innings were scoreless, but going into the fourth inning, Fournet started by reaching first on a fielding error. After a walk by Newmark, Tourtilott, who played right field in the game, moved the runners into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt. After McGuire popped out, Innamorato drove in the first two runs of the game on a double before senior catcher Amber Plaza popped out.
After a scoreless fitfth inning, the Dragons would drive in three runs after FGCU committed two errors that cost them the lead.
With the bottom of the sixth starting, Fournet flew out to start the inning. Newmark then hit a triple to right field. Head coach David Deiros was not happy about it and took Newmark out and put Demurias to pinch run. Honestly, in her defense, I think Newmark misread what Deiros told her. She was suppose to stay at second, but it looked like Deiros was telling her to run to third, so there may have been some miscommunication. With Demurias on third, Tourtilott was at the plate and on a 1-1 pitch, she hit a game-winning two run home run that put FGCU up 4-3.
In the top of the seventh, Drexel started things off with a triple, but then it looked a little controversial. The next batter grounded out to Verderese and Verderese threw to Plaza, who then threw it to Demurias for a double play.
From a view, it looked like the runner was safe and it should have been tied 4-4, but I found before the second game that the runner did not reach home plate and Plaza did get her in time. Drexel would pop up and ended the game.
Both teams had only four hits in the game. Newmark, Innamorato, Verderese and Tourtillott had the only four hits.
Wade got the win throwing a complete game giving three unearned runs on four hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
The final game of the invitational was between FGCU and Cleveland State. Cleveland State was 2-24 before starting the game.
Instead of Randolph pitching the game, it was freshman right-hander Morgan White that took the mound. White was struggling the past few games, but this time, it was much better than I could imagine.
The first batter White faced hit a single to start. After pop out and another single, I'm thinking "Please let her have this game in her hand" and luckily, my wish came true.
White struck out two batters in the first inning. In the second, she struck one batter. In the third, despite giving up a single and a throwing error being set, White got out of the inning and struck out one batter. White would strike out three of the four batters she faced in the fourth.
After three scoreless inning, FGCU would start the offense. Huff led things off with a triple. After Fournet walked and stole second, Newmark would strikeout and Tourtillott would load the bases with a walk before McGuire drove in Huff for the first run on a sacrifice fly. White would then step up to the plate and hit a pop fly to the infield. It looked like the inning was about to end, but the Cleveland State's shortstop dropped the ball and Fournet would score the second run before Verderese struck out to end the inning.
With White back on the mound, Cleveland State took another crack at her in the fifth. White struck out the first batter and gave up a single before having the next two batters fly out. White had eight strikeouts in the game before going into the sixth inning. The first batter White faced struck out looking. After a fly out with second batter, White walked two straight batters and threw an illegal pitch that advanced the first runner that walked to second, but after that, she struck out her final batter.
During the bottom of the sixth, there was some confusion. After McGuire popped out and White struck out, Innamorato hit a single to center and advanced to third on a throwing error by the second baseman, but something did not look right to the umpires and they gathered together with both Deiros and the head coach of CSU about the situation with Innamorato's advancement.
After a 30 minute delay of looking through the rule book, Innamorato was ok to stay at third. I was very confused with the problem and I could not figure it out. Redshirt sophomore Ashley Swiderski would fly out to end the sixth.
In the seventh, junior right-hander Gabbee Draney came in to get the save and struck out all three batters to end the inning.
FGCU would once again have only four hits. Huff had two and Innamorato and Verderese would have one each.
White earned her second win and threw six innings and gave up all four hits and three walks, but it was the 10 strikeouts that set the bar for the lone freshman. Draney would be credited with her second save of the season.
At the end of the invitational, FGCU ended up 4-2, Canisius (11-13) was 2-2, IUPUI (10-17) and Iowa State (15-16) went 4-1, Drexel (4-7) went 1-4 and Cleveland State went 0-5 in the Battle at the Beach Invitational.
FGCU (18-13) will be starting conference play in the A-Sun on Saturday with two games at home against Jacksonville before wrapping up with one more in the afternoon and heading to UNF for the first conference road trip.
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.
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.
Big Wins for FGCU Softball
The FGCU softball team had a doubleheader with Holy Cross and Ball State.
Going into the doubleheader with a 10-9 record, the Eagles were struggling going back and forth between wins and losses. They lost 5-1 to UCF on Wednesday before going back on a two game winning streak beating Providence College 10-7 and 3-0 in the UCF Spring Fling Tournament before returning to a two game losing streak after a 5-3 loss to UCF and a 5-2 loss to Providence.
It looked like the streak was about to continue, but in this case, it did not happen.
Before FGCU played Holy Cross, I took the liberty of getting a sneak peak at Ball State as they played FIU earlier, although during the game, I got hit on the head twice by foul balls. I know they say "Stay alert for foul balls," but it came out of nowhere. Lucky for me, it didn't hurt too bad.
FIU beat Ball State 6-2 in an earlier afternoon game.
Before the game started, the announcer announced the reserves and starting lineups for both teams and then I sang the national anthem for the game.
None of the softball players honestly knew that I was doing it and were shocked really when they heard. Probably some of the softball beforehand were thinking "Is he gonna be like the usual guy that does the anthem for us?"
As I started, I could sense different feelings in body language in some of the FGCU softballs players and from the Holy Cross and Ball State players too.
When I finished the anthem, I got a big ovation from everyone and even junior Brittany McGuire shook my hand in shock and awe and said "Good job."
When I took my seat, people were already saying things like "Great job" and "Great singing."
Even some of the opposing teams' fans were amazed.
Senior right hander, Taylor Wade, was set to face the Crusaders. Wade was 4-4 prior to the game.
Her opposing pitcher was junior Katy Watson. Watson entered the game 0-2 prior to playing FGCU.
At the top of the first inning, the Crusaders scored the first run on an RBI double, but then in the bottom of the first, the Eagles took over. After walks to junior outfielder Natalie Lopez and sophomore first baseman Racquel Fournet, junior outfielder Erica Ward hit a three run home run to center. This was her first home run playing for FGCU.
By the second inning, the Crusaders started a five run inning to take a 6-3 lead, but then the Eagles bounced back with a five run inning of their own.
Junior outfielder Kelsey Huff started with a bunt single and then stole second before Lopez hit a single and stole second base herself. Fournet started the five run inning with an RBI single to dive in Huff. Then Ward drove in Lopez and Fournet on a triple before being thrown out at home. After a single, stolen base and advanced run from senior catcher Brianna Tourtillott, redshirt sophomore infielder Ashley Swiderski walked before junior infielder Brianne Innamorato drove in Tourtillott and Swiderski on a double to take a 8-6 lead.
In the third inning, the Crusaders tied the game 8-8 after a throwing error and a sac fly in which Ward made a spectacular diving catch for it, even though she did not get the runner out at home.
The Eagles would once again bounce back with a two run double by Fournet to make it 10-8.
Two scoreless innings later led to the bottom of the fifth. Senior infielder Jeanie Verderese started with a single to third and a stolen base before Huff made a sacrifice bunt to move Verderese and a Fournet RBI single increased the lead to 12-8.
The Crusaders scored a run in the top of the sixth, but a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth by junior designated player LuLu Newmark sealed the run support.
Sophomore left hander Riley Randolph came into the game and finished the seventh inning for the save. FGCU would win 12-8 for the final score.
In the end of the first game, it was Ward and Fournet who took the reigns for providing most of the runs. Ward went 3-4 with five RBIs including the three run homer and two run triple. Fournet was 3-3 with two singles, a double and four RBIs.
Innamorato went 1-3 with the two run double.
Huff and Swiderski had two hits and two runs each.
Walk count, the Crusaders walked seven batters (Swiderski (2), Verderese (2), Tourillott, Fournet and Lopez) while FGCU gave up one.
Pitching wise, Wade earned the win after pitching six innings while giving up nine runs (seven earned) on 13 hits with one walk and four strikeouts while Randolph earned a save after throwing one scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out two batters.
Before the second game started, head coach Dave Deiros saw me, gave me a pat on the shoulder and told me about the anthem. He said to me "Patrick, I've heard the anthem several times at FGCU for softball, and that is by far the best one I have heard this whole time. Great job."
At first I was thinking "Was he just saying that to be nice or was he serious?" It was hard for me to tell really with Deiros. But he sounded serious about it.
Game two went underway, but this time they played Ball State.
Randolph (6-2) was set to face junior Carolyn Wilmes (2-7).
In the first inning, FGCU had the bases loaded, bringing up Ward, but a knee injury took her out of the game for her at bat and sophomore Morgan Sutherland finished the at bat for Ward and was sent to the outfield to finish the game for Ward in right field. Sutherland did strike out, but Ward would get the strikeout instead of Sutherland. I never understood why really, but I just went with it. With the bases still loaded, Newmark popped a fly ball, but the Wilmes and the third baseman missed the ball and that brought in Huff for the first run.
The Cardinals would tie the game in the fourth inning after and RBI single by freshman Haley Dominique before Randolph struck out the final batter to end the top half of the inning.
The next half innings went scoreless until the bottom of the fifth.
After Huff grounded out for the first out, Lopez was up to bat and was hit by a pitch. Originally, the home plate umpire called it a foul because it looked like it hit the bat. After a discussion about the call, it was overturned and Lopez went to first. After a Fournet ground out that advanced Lopez to second, Sutherland drove a go ahead RBI single to center to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth, Innamorato started the inning with a lead-off double. After a ground out by Verderese that advanced Innamorato to third, Tourtillott added the insurance run by driving Innamorato with a sacrifice fly to left field before Huff grounded out to end the inning.
Despite giving up a double and a walk in the top of the seventh, Randolph got the final out on a ground ball to third and FGCU would win the game 3-1.
Sutherland went 2-2 with a double and the go ahead RBI single. She was the only player for FGCU with more than one hit.
Randolph got the win throwing a complete game, giving up one earned run on four hits while walking five batters and striking out four.
The Eagles are now 12-9 after those two wins while Holy Cross dropped to 2-5 while Ball State dropped to 7-14.
After the game, Tourtillott wanted a picture with me after the game with my "W" flag. Of course, I couldn't say "no" to something like that? It's impossible for me to say "no" to the athletes. So we got a photo with my flag.
In case some of the readers and non-sport fans do not know what the blue W means on the white flag, the W stands for "win," and for non-baseball fans that don't get the reference, the W is flown at Chicago Cubs baseball games when the cubs win their games, hence the saying heard by play-by-play analyst, Len Kasper, is "Cubs win. Cubs win. Cubs win," and the "Go Cubs Go" song is played afterwards.
Later on after the second game was completed, assistant coach Erika Bennett came to me and said "Nice job on the anthem," and I asked her "Did any of the softball players know I was doing the anthem?" She said "No one expected that you were doing it, not even the coaching staff knew. I was impressed."
I was astonished that I did something to make the 60 plus people in the stands cheer and get a strong ovation for what I did.
Nevertheless, FGCU won 12-8 against Holy Cross and 3-1 against Ball State, but the series with HC is not yet over for FGCU has to play one more game at 5 tomorrow night. Those two wins against HC and Ball State were crucial games, even if they were non-conference.
Also a brief update on Erica Ward: she did hurt her knee during the first inning of the game against Ball State, but she'll be OK from what I heard from her teammates.
Going into the doubleheader with a 10-9 record, the Eagles were struggling going back and forth between wins and losses. They lost 5-1 to UCF on Wednesday before going back on a two game winning streak beating Providence College 10-7 and 3-0 in the UCF Spring Fling Tournament before returning to a two game losing streak after a 5-3 loss to UCF and a 5-2 loss to Providence.
It looked like the streak was about to continue, but in this case, it did not happen.
Before FGCU played Holy Cross, I took the liberty of getting a sneak peak at Ball State as they played FIU earlier, although during the game, I got hit on the head twice by foul balls. I know they say "Stay alert for foul balls," but it came out of nowhere. Lucky for me, it didn't hurt too bad.
FIU beat Ball State 6-2 in an earlier afternoon game.
Before the game started, the announcer announced the reserves and starting lineups for both teams and then I sang the national anthem for the game.
None of the softball players honestly knew that I was doing it and were shocked really when they heard. Probably some of the softball beforehand were thinking "Is he gonna be like the usual guy that does the anthem for us?"
As I started, I could sense different feelings in body language in some of the FGCU softballs players and from the Holy Cross and Ball State players too.
When I finished the anthem, I got a big ovation from everyone and even junior Brittany McGuire shook my hand in shock and awe and said "Good job."
When I took my seat, people were already saying things like "Great job" and "Great singing."
Even some of the opposing teams' fans were amazed.
Senior right hander, Taylor Wade, was set to face the Crusaders. Wade was 4-4 prior to the game.
Her opposing pitcher was junior Katy Watson. Watson entered the game 0-2 prior to playing FGCU.
At the top of the first inning, the Crusaders scored the first run on an RBI double, but then in the bottom of the first, the Eagles took over. After walks to junior outfielder Natalie Lopez and sophomore first baseman Racquel Fournet, junior outfielder Erica Ward hit a three run home run to center. This was her first home run playing for FGCU.
By the second inning, the Crusaders started a five run inning to take a 6-3 lead, but then the Eagles bounced back with a five run inning of their own.
Junior outfielder Kelsey Huff started with a bunt single and then stole second before Lopez hit a single and stole second base herself. Fournet started the five run inning with an RBI single to dive in Huff. Then Ward drove in Lopez and Fournet on a triple before being thrown out at home. After a single, stolen base and advanced run from senior catcher Brianna Tourtillott, redshirt sophomore infielder Ashley Swiderski walked before junior infielder Brianne Innamorato drove in Tourtillott and Swiderski on a double to take a 8-6 lead.
In the third inning, the Crusaders tied the game 8-8 after a throwing error and a sac fly in which Ward made a spectacular diving catch for it, even though she did not get the runner out at home.
The Eagles would once again bounce back with a two run double by Fournet to make it 10-8.
Two scoreless innings later led to the bottom of the fifth. Senior infielder Jeanie Verderese started with a single to third and a stolen base before Huff made a sacrifice bunt to move Verderese and a Fournet RBI single increased the lead to 12-8.
The Crusaders scored a run in the top of the sixth, but a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth by junior designated player LuLu Newmark sealed the run support.
Sophomore left hander Riley Randolph came into the game and finished the seventh inning for the save. FGCU would win 12-8 for the final score.
In the end of the first game, it was Ward and Fournet who took the reigns for providing most of the runs. Ward went 3-4 with five RBIs including the three run homer and two run triple. Fournet was 3-3 with two singles, a double and four RBIs.
Innamorato went 1-3 with the two run double.
Huff and Swiderski had two hits and two runs each.
Walk count, the Crusaders walked seven batters (Swiderski (2), Verderese (2), Tourillott, Fournet and Lopez) while FGCU gave up one.
Pitching wise, Wade earned the win after pitching six innings while giving up nine runs (seven earned) on 13 hits with one walk and four strikeouts while Randolph earned a save after throwing one scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out two batters.
Before the second game started, head coach Dave Deiros saw me, gave me a pat on the shoulder and told me about the anthem. He said to me "Patrick, I've heard the anthem several times at FGCU for softball, and that is by far the best one I have heard this whole time. Great job."
At first I was thinking "Was he just saying that to be nice or was he serious?" It was hard for me to tell really with Deiros. But he sounded serious about it.
Game two went underway, but this time they played Ball State.
Randolph (6-2) was set to face junior Carolyn Wilmes (2-7).
In the first inning, FGCU had the bases loaded, bringing up Ward, but a knee injury took her out of the game for her at bat and sophomore Morgan Sutherland finished the at bat for Ward and was sent to the outfield to finish the game for Ward in right field. Sutherland did strike out, but Ward would get the strikeout instead of Sutherland. I never understood why really, but I just went with it. With the bases still loaded, Newmark popped a fly ball, but the Wilmes and the third baseman missed the ball and that brought in Huff for the first run.
The Cardinals would tie the game in the fourth inning after and RBI single by freshman Haley Dominique before Randolph struck out the final batter to end the top half of the inning.
The next half innings went scoreless until the bottom of the fifth.
After Huff grounded out for the first out, Lopez was up to bat and was hit by a pitch. Originally, the home plate umpire called it a foul because it looked like it hit the bat. After a discussion about the call, it was overturned and Lopez went to first. After a Fournet ground out that advanced Lopez to second, Sutherland drove a go ahead RBI single to center to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth, Innamorato started the inning with a lead-off double. After a ground out by Verderese that advanced Innamorato to third, Tourtillott added the insurance run by driving Innamorato with a sacrifice fly to left field before Huff grounded out to end the inning.
Despite giving up a double and a walk in the top of the seventh, Randolph got the final out on a ground ball to third and FGCU would win the game 3-1.
Sutherland went 2-2 with a double and the go ahead RBI single. She was the only player for FGCU with more than one hit.
Randolph got the win throwing a complete game, giving up one earned run on four hits while walking five batters and striking out four.
The Eagles are now 12-9 after those two wins while Holy Cross dropped to 2-5 while Ball State dropped to 7-14.
After the game, Tourtillott wanted a picture with me after the game with my "W" flag. Of course, I couldn't say "no" to something like that? It's impossible for me to say "no" to the athletes. So we got a photo with my flag.
In case some of the readers and non-sport fans do not know what the blue W means on the white flag, the W stands for "win," and for non-baseball fans that don't get the reference, the W is flown at Chicago Cubs baseball games when the cubs win their games, hence the saying heard by play-by-play analyst, Len Kasper, is "Cubs win. Cubs win. Cubs win," and the "Go Cubs Go" song is played afterwards.
Later on after the second game was completed, assistant coach Erika Bennett came to me and said "Nice job on the anthem," and I asked her "Did any of the softball players know I was doing the anthem?" She said "No one expected that you were doing it, not even the coaching staff knew. I was impressed."
I was astonished that I did something to make the 60 plus people in the stands cheer and get a strong ovation for what I did.
Nevertheless, FGCU won 12-8 against Holy Cross and 3-1 against Ball State, but the series with HC is not yet over for FGCU has to play one more game at 5 tomorrow night. Those two wins against HC and Ball State were crucial games, even if they were non-conference.
Also a brief update on Erica Ward: she did hurt her knee during the first inning of the game against Ball State, but she'll be OK from what I heard from her teammates.
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| Me with Bri Tourtillott after the game with the "W" flag |
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| Randolph on the mound against Ball State |
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| Wade on the mound in the game against Holy Cross |
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| Me doing the national anthem before the game |
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| Tourtillott stealing second and advancing to third on a throwing error |
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| Fournet hits a two run double |
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| Randolph finishing the top of the seventh inning for the save |
FGCU Softball Spring Break Preview
After a series with UCF and Providence in the UCF Spring Fling Tournament, the FGCU softball team prepares themself for three non-conference home games against Ball State and Holy Cross.
Last Time Out:
The Eagles (10-9) were struggling after losing three straight home games against Wisconsin, FIU and UCF, but they bounced back winning of their three games against Providence University and losing a rematch game against UCF.
Batting wise, junior outfielder Kelsey Huff currently leads the team in hits (26), triples (3), and stolen bases (5).
Sophomore first baseman Racquel Fournet leads the team in RBIs (16) and walks (12).
Pitching wise, sophomore left-hander Riley Randolph is pitching a 5-2 record with a 2.94 ERA and 41 strikeouts.
The Eagles will play Holy Cross and Ball State in the first two games back home on Tuesday at 5:45 pm and 8 pm and then play Holy Cross a second time on Wednesday at 5 pm.
Scouting Holy Cross:
Holy Cross comes into the season with a 2-3 record after playing in the "Runnin' Bulldog Tournament" against Hampton, Gardner-Webb and Seton Hall.
The Crusaders are led by head coach Jen Lapicki. This is Lapicki's first season as head coach for the Crusaders after spending three years previously as an assistant coach for the Princeton softball team.
Two batters to look out for with Holy Cross are Taylor Moss and Emily Krisanda.
Moss, the junior first basemen leads the team with a .500 batting average and in RBIs (6). Last year, Moss was named to the Academic All-Patriot League and Patriot League Academic Honor Roll.
Krisanda, a senior infielder, leads the team in hits (8) and is second behind Moss in batting average (.444)
Pitching wise, sophomore right-hander Alexandra Held is the ace of the pitchers Held throws a 2-0 record with a 3.44 ERA and nine strikeouts.
Scouting Ball State:
The Cardinals (6-12) were on a three-game winning streak before it was snapped by USF.
The players to expect, batting wise, are senior outfielder Rachel Houck and freshman catcher Janae Hogg.
Houck leads the team with seven home runs and in two of the 19 games she played, Houck hit two home runs in games against Drake and Towson.
Hogg, a recruit from Cathedral High School, has a team-leading .436 batting average with three home runs and 12 RBIs with two of them hit in the same game against Towson.
The week after spring break, FGCU will have their toughest challenge as they play No.1 Florida State in a doubleheader before playing Canisius, IUPUI, Drexel, Iowa State and Cleveland State in the Battle of the Beach Invitational. Afterwards, the Eagles will play Jacksonville for the start of conference play.
Last Time Out:
The Eagles (10-9) were struggling after losing three straight home games against Wisconsin, FIU and UCF, but they bounced back winning of their three games against Providence University and losing a rematch game against UCF.
Batting wise, junior outfielder Kelsey Huff currently leads the team in hits (26), triples (3), and stolen bases (5).
Sophomore first baseman Racquel Fournet leads the team in RBIs (16) and walks (12).
Pitching wise, sophomore left-hander Riley Randolph is pitching a 5-2 record with a 2.94 ERA and 41 strikeouts.
The Eagles will play Holy Cross and Ball State in the first two games back home on Tuesday at 5:45 pm and 8 pm and then play Holy Cross a second time on Wednesday at 5 pm.
Scouting Holy Cross:
Holy Cross comes into the season with a 2-3 record after playing in the "Runnin' Bulldog Tournament" against Hampton, Gardner-Webb and Seton Hall.
The Crusaders are led by head coach Jen Lapicki. This is Lapicki's first season as head coach for the Crusaders after spending three years previously as an assistant coach for the Princeton softball team.
Two batters to look out for with Holy Cross are Taylor Moss and Emily Krisanda.
Moss, the junior first basemen leads the team with a .500 batting average and in RBIs (6). Last year, Moss was named to the Academic All-Patriot League and Patriot League Academic Honor Roll.
Krisanda, a senior infielder, leads the team in hits (8) and is second behind Moss in batting average (.444)
Pitching wise, sophomore right-hander Alexandra Held is the ace of the pitchers Held throws a 2-0 record with a 3.44 ERA and nine strikeouts.
Scouting Ball State:
The Cardinals (6-12) were on a three-game winning streak before it was snapped by USF.
The players to expect, batting wise, are senior outfielder Rachel Houck and freshman catcher Janae Hogg.
Houck leads the team with seven home runs and in two of the 19 games she played, Houck hit two home runs in games against Drake and Towson.
Hogg, a recruit from Cathedral High School, has a team-leading .436 batting average with three home runs and 12 RBIs with two of them hit in the same game against Towson.
The week after spring break, FGCU will have their toughest challenge as they play No.1 Florida State in a doubleheader before playing Canisius, IUPUI, Drexel, Iowa State and Cleveland State in the Battle of the Beach Invitational. Afterwards, the Eagles will play Jacksonville for the start of conference play.
Nine Sports in One Weekend
What happens when you cross two women's tennis matches, a women's soccer scrimmage, four softball games and two conference basketball games? You got yourself one busy weekend with those sports. There were nine events that happened this past weekend.
On Friday, the women's tennis and softball teams started the weekend off.
The women's tennis team faced Florida A&M University (FAMU) and won 7-0 to extend their record to 3-1.
The team of sophomore Julia Ascua and junior Julianna Curtis quickly won 6-0 on their match on court one while sophomore Laura Falceto Font and freshman Sara Kelly won 6-0 as well on court 3. Although the Eagle won two out of the three doubles, and secured the first point, senior Breana Stampfli and freshman Maja Ornberg finished their match 6-2 for ITF ranking points.
In the singles matches, Kelly won the first singles match with a 6-0 pair decision. Falceto Font would quickly follow Kelly with a 6-1, 6-0 win of her own before Stampfli finished the match with a 6-1 pair win to secure the automatic win.
Ornberg finished 6-2, 6-0 in her match. Later, freshman Sofia Perez won 6-3, 6-2 before Ascua won 6-4, 6-2 in the final match.
Later in the evening, the softball team opened their season at home at the FGCU softball complex. It was a green out and people were encouraged to wear green for the games.
Originally, two teams were suppose to play, but one of the teams, University of Connecticut (U-Conn) and Long Island University-Brooklyn (LIU). U-Conn was unable to fly to FGCU due to snow, so changes were made in the schedule and FGCU would instead play LIU-Brooklyn four times.
Usually, before each game and the announcement of the starting lineups, FGCU does a "tradition" where they circle together and move side-to-side while senior second baseman and team captain, Jeanie Verderese, leads the team in a pregame rally, like any sports team does.
In the first game, FGCU won 7-0. On the pitching part, Riley Randolph the win after pitching a seven inning shutout, while giving up two hits, and striking out five batters.
Offensively, it was junior third baseman, Brittany McGuire, and junior right fielder, Erica Ward, who led the charge. McGuire went 2-for-3 with a double, two RBIs, and a run scored. Ward was 1-for-2 with the two RBI single.
Sophomore first baseman Racquel Fournet, and senior catcher Brianna Tourtillot also contributed with an RBI each. Fournet went 1-or-2 with a double, one run scored and a walk while Tourtillott went 2-for-4 with two singles in the game to go with the one RBI.
Juniors LuLu Newmark and Nat Lopez had two hits in the game.
In the second game, FGCU played in the evening, and once again, beat LIU 8-0 by the mercy rule.
Starting in the bottom of the second inning, junior Brianne Innamorato started with a one out single to center. Then sophomore Morgan Sutherland was hit by a pitch before Lopez loaded the bases with a single to right. Junior Kelsey Huff, started the run rally with a bases-clearing double that drove in Innamorto, Sutherland and Lopez before Fournet grounded out to end the inning.
Huff would finish 2-for-3 with three RBIs, a walk and a run scored. Innomorato went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
In the end, it was freshman pitcher, Morgan White, that drove in the game-winning run on a pinch hit, bases-loaded single for the eight-run mercy rule.
Senior pitcher, Taylor Wade, got the win throwing a six inning shutout, giving up four hits with six strikeouts.
On Saturday, the women's soccer team played a scrimmage against the University of Victoria, an NAIA university from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The result ended in a 1-1 tie.
The softball team played LIU in their third game, and won by the score of 9-1 via the eight run mercy rule. Randolph got the win throwing five innings, giving up one earned run on seven hits while striking out one batter.
Offensively, Huff and Fournet led the offense. Huff went 4-for-4 with a triple, three runs scored and two RBIs while Fournet was 2-for-2 with two doubles, three RBIs, one run scored and a walk.
McGuire, Newmark, and Verderese also contributed with a hit and an RBI each.
I was unable to catch the fourth game, but I had Jim Tourtillott, Bri's father, keep me updated.
The Eagles won 8-0 via the mercy rule in the final game before they start their road trip.
Wade was the winning pitcher throwing five innings with three strikeouts before junior Gabbee Draney threw a scoreless inning of relief.
Huff was 3-for-3 with two runs scored, one RBI and a stolen base, Fournet was 1-for-2 with a double and two RBIs, Newmark went 2-for-3 with a RBI and one run scored and junior Ashley Swiderski went 1-for-3 and hit the lone home run in the game. Junior Emily Demurias drove in the game-winning run on a single.
At the end of the four games, Innamorato led the team, conference and the nation in batting average (.857).
The softball team will be on the road, but instead of going to a different state to play, they will be playing outside of the US in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico against No. 21 Fresno State, Texas Tech. Cal State Fullerton and Mississippi State.
Later in the evening, the FGCU men's and women's basketball team had a doubleheader against Kennesaw State.
The women's basketball team played first, and during the game, people in the arena were wearing blue since it was a blue out. It was back and fourth in the first quarter, but by the second, the Eagles outscored the Owls 18-5.
By the second half, the Eagles took over and finished by the final score of 69-35.
Junior Rose Julien scored a team high 15 points (6-8 FG, 2-4 3PT) and 5 assists.
Freshman Tytionia Adderly had a double-double of 11 points and 14 rebounds.
The Eagles went 9-for-19 from the three point line.
A little while later, the men's basketball played. The players that Kennesaw had that were big threats were Kendrick Ray and Aubrey Williams, but that didn't stop FGCU.
In the first half, FGCU went ahead 36-29 and then finished off the Owls in the second half despite them trying to make a comeback. In the end, FGCU won 75-63.
Redshirt junior Brandon Goodwin led the team with 24 points, three assists and had six rebounds.
Redshirt senior Demetris Morant had 17 points and seven rebounds
Redshirt sophomore Zach Johnson had 10 points, four rebounds and three assists.
Off the bench, sophomore Rayjon Tucker led the charge with seven points.
Junior Christian Terrell came off the bench while battling an ankle injury. Terrell had six points in the game.
On Sunday, the women's tennis team wrapped up the weekend by beating FAU 5-2.
FAU won the doubles point, but a 7-5, 6-2 win by Kelly tied the score. Stampfli then got a 7-5, 6-4 win to bring FGCU ahead by one. Ascúa, despite fighting back to win the second set, lost 1-6, 6-2, 5-7.
With the score 2-2, Perez fell in the first set, but came back with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 to bring the score to 3-2 FGCU. Ornberg secured the final match point with a 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 win to help FGCU win the series. Font won 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 to make it 5-2.
In the end, there were eight wins and one tie for FGCU the whole weekend, which was a successful weekend for the school.
Below are a few pictures and videos from Friday and parts of Saturday's softball games:
On Friday, the women's tennis and softball teams started the weekend off.
The women's tennis team faced Florida A&M University (FAMU) and won 7-0 to extend their record to 3-1.
The team of sophomore Julia Ascua and junior Julianna Curtis quickly won 6-0 on their match on court one while sophomore Laura Falceto Font and freshman Sara Kelly won 6-0 as well on court 3. Although the Eagle won two out of the three doubles, and secured the first point, senior Breana Stampfli and freshman Maja Ornberg finished their match 6-2 for ITF ranking points.
In the singles matches, Kelly won the first singles match with a 6-0 pair decision. Falceto Font would quickly follow Kelly with a 6-1, 6-0 win of her own before Stampfli finished the match with a 6-1 pair win to secure the automatic win.
Ornberg finished 6-2, 6-0 in her match. Later, freshman Sofia Perez won 6-3, 6-2 before Ascua won 6-4, 6-2 in the final match.
Later in the evening, the softball team opened their season at home at the FGCU softball complex. It was a green out and people were encouraged to wear green for the games.
Originally, two teams were suppose to play, but one of the teams, University of Connecticut (U-Conn) and Long Island University-Brooklyn (LIU). U-Conn was unable to fly to FGCU due to snow, so changes were made in the schedule and FGCU would instead play LIU-Brooklyn four times.
Usually, before each game and the announcement of the starting lineups, FGCU does a "tradition" where they circle together and move side-to-side while senior second baseman and team captain, Jeanie Verderese, leads the team in a pregame rally, like any sports team does.
In the first game, FGCU won 7-0. On the pitching part, Riley Randolph the win after pitching a seven inning shutout, while giving up two hits, and striking out five batters.
Offensively, it was junior third baseman, Brittany McGuire, and junior right fielder, Erica Ward, who led the charge. McGuire went 2-for-3 with a double, two RBIs, and a run scored. Ward was 1-for-2 with the two RBI single.
Sophomore first baseman Racquel Fournet, and senior catcher Brianna Tourtillot also contributed with an RBI each. Fournet went 1-or-2 with a double, one run scored and a walk while Tourtillott went 2-for-4 with two singles in the game to go with the one RBI.
Juniors LuLu Newmark and Nat Lopez had two hits in the game.
In the second game, FGCU played in the evening, and once again, beat LIU 8-0 by the mercy rule.
Starting in the bottom of the second inning, junior Brianne Innamorato started with a one out single to center. Then sophomore Morgan Sutherland was hit by a pitch before Lopez loaded the bases with a single to right. Junior Kelsey Huff, started the run rally with a bases-clearing double that drove in Innamorto, Sutherland and Lopez before Fournet grounded out to end the inning.
Huff would finish 2-for-3 with three RBIs, a walk and a run scored. Innomorato went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
In the end, it was freshman pitcher, Morgan White, that drove in the game-winning run on a pinch hit, bases-loaded single for the eight-run mercy rule.
Senior pitcher, Taylor Wade, got the win throwing a six inning shutout, giving up four hits with six strikeouts.
On Saturday, the women's soccer team played a scrimmage against the University of Victoria, an NAIA university from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The result ended in a 1-1 tie.
The softball team played LIU in their third game, and won by the score of 9-1 via the eight run mercy rule. Randolph got the win throwing five innings, giving up one earned run on seven hits while striking out one batter.
Offensively, Huff and Fournet led the offense. Huff went 4-for-4 with a triple, three runs scored and two RBIs while Fournet was 2-for-2 with two doubles, three RBIs, one run scored and a walk.
McGuire, Newmark, and Verderese also contributed with a hit and an RBI each.
I was unable to catch the fourth game, but I had Jim Tourtillott, Bri's father, keep me updated.
The Eagles won 8-0 via the mercy rule in the final game before they start their road trip.
Wade was the winning pitcher throwing five innings with three strikeouts before junior Gabbee Draney threw a scoreless inning of relief.
Huff was 3-for-3 with two runs scored, one RBI and a stolen base, Fournet was 1-for-2 with a double and two RBIs, Newmark went 2-for-3 with a RBI and one run scored and junior Ashley Swiderski went 1-for-3 and hit the lone home run in the game. Junior Emily Demurias drove in the game-winning run on a single.
At the end of the four games, Innamorato led the team, conference and the nation in batting average (.857).
The softball team will be on the road, but instead of going to a different state to play, they will be playing outside of the US in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico against No. 21 Fresno State, Texas Tech. Cal State Fullerton and Mississippi State.
Later in the evening, the FGCU men's and women's basketball team had a doubleheader against Kennesaw State.
The women's basketball team played first, and during the game, people in the arena were wearing blue since it was a blue out. It was back and fourth in the first quarter, but by the second, the Eagles outscored the Owls 18-5.
By the second half, the Eagles took over and finished by the final score of 69-35.
Junior Rose Julien scored a team high 15 points (6-8 FG, 2-4 3PT) and 5 assists.
Freshman Tytionia Adderly had a double-double of 11 points and 14 rebounds.
The Eagles went 9-for-19 from the three point line.
A little while later, the men's basketball played. The players that Kennesaw had that were big threats were Kendrick Ray and Aubrey Williams, but that didn't stop FGCU.
In the first half, FGCU went ahead 36-29 and then finished off the Owls in the second half despite them trying to make a comeback. In the end, FGCU won 75-63.
Redshirt junior Brandon Goodwin led the team with 24 points, three assists and had six rebounds.
Redshirt senior Demetris Morant had 17 points and seven rebounds
Redshirt sophomore Zach Johnson had 10 points, four rebounds and three assists.
Off the bench, sophomore Rayjon Tucker led the charge with seven points.
Junior Christian Terrell came off the bench while battling an ankle injury. Terrell had six points in the game.
On Sunday, the women's tennis team wrapped up the weekend by beating FAU 5-2.
FAU won the doubles point, but a 7-5, 6-2 win by Kelly tied the score. Stampfli then got a 7-5, 6-4 win to bring FGCU ahead by one. Ascúa, despite fighting back to win the second set, lost 1-6, 6-2, 5-7.
With the score 2-2, Perez fell in the first set, but came back with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 to bring the score to 3-2 FGCU. Ornberg secured the final match point with a 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 win to help FGCU win the series. Font won 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 to make it 5-2.
In the end, there were eight wins and one tie for FGCU the whole weekend, which was a successful weekend for the school.
Below are a few pictures and videos from Friday and parts of Saturday's softball games:
Racquel Fournet at-bat
Randolph strikes out Angie Rizzi
Brittany McGuire at the plate
FGCU Softball Season Opening Games Preview
The FGCU softball prepare themselves for the opening season on Friday February 10th. The Eagles will have a total of 33 homes games (nine of which are conference).
Last year, the Eagles went 32-27 with a 13-5 record in conference and won the season crown before falling in the A-SUN championship finals to USC Upstate. If FGCU would have won against Upstate in the game, they would have to play them again due to the double elimination rules and Upstate did not lose any of their games in the whole tournament.
The softball team lost five players on the team including A-SUN Player of the Year Alexis "Louie" Ross. This year, they will lose four seniors: catcher Brianna Tourtillott, right-handed pitcher Taylor Wade, second baseman Jeanie Verderese and catcher Amber Plaza.
Tourtillott, a double transfer from the University of Texas- El Paso (UTEP) and NJCAA Tallahassee Community College (TCC) was the starting catcher for FGCU. In 33 games, Tourtillott hit two home runs and drove in nine RBIs.
Wade earned All-Tournament Team honors during the A-SUN softball tournament for her performance in the tournament.
Verderese was captain of the team and a two-time member of the A-SUN All-Academic Team.
Plaza, a transfer from NJCAA Miami Dade College, started nine of her 10 games she played in, although she missed a majority of the season due to an injury.
FGCU signed three new players to the team: freshman right-handed pitcher Morgan White and two transfers: junior third baseman Erica Ward (State College of Florida) and sophomore Caley Chappel (USC Upstate).
White is a graduate from Forest High School where she was the 2015 Florida Miss Softball, a MaxPreps All-American, the Dairy Farmers 6A Player of the Year, Miracle Sports 6A Player of the Year, the OSB Pitcher of the Year and Forest High School Varsity team MVP, so this is her first year playing for the Eagles. White is also the only freshman on the team.
Ward spent her first two years at State College of Florida (SCF) of the Suncoast Coference in FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8. Ward led the Manatees in home runs (11) last season and signed a national letter of intent (NLI) to join FGCU with her remaining two years of eligibility.
Chappel played for conference rival USC Upstate and played against FGCU her freshman year, where the Spartans won the A-SUN championship before falling to Auburn and Jacksonville State in the NCAA regionals. Chappel joins FGCU with three years of eligibility remaining.
Some of the key returning players for FGCU include sophomore left-handed pitcher Riley Randolph, sophomore first baseman Racquel Fournet and junior outfielder Kelsey Huff.
Randolph was the A-SUN Freshman of the Year and A-SUN Pitcher of the Year as well as a member of the A-SUN All-Conference First Team, A-SUN All-Freshman and NFCA All-South Region Third Team. She went 16-5 with a 1.39 ERA and struck out 123 batters.
Fournet was a member the A-SUN All-Freshman Team as well as a member of the A-SUN Al-Conference First Team. She led the team in home runs (7) and doubles (16) last season.
Huff earned A-SUN All-Conerence Second Team honors and was a former member of the A-SUN All-Freshman Team. She led the team in stolen bases last season (25).
In the first two games of the season, FGCU will play two teams: Long Island University-Brooklyn (LIU for short) and the University of Connecticut (U-Conn).
Scouting the Blackbirds:
LIU was 30-27 last season and 14-2 in the Northeast Conference finishing first, where they won their conference tournament before losing to at the time No. 10 LSU and Arizona State in the NCAA National Tournament regional.
They were originally suppose to play FGCU last season, but their match-up was cancelled due to half of the team being sick. LIU will have 16 returners including senior infielder Celinna Cosio and junior right-handed pitcher Erynn Sobieski.
Scouting The Huskies:
U-Conn finished 7th and were 19-33 with a 4-12 record in the American Athletic Conference (AAC). U-Conn will have 10 returning players including sophomore right-handed pitcher Jill Stockley.
FGCU will play four teams that are currently the top 25 in the nation: No. 5 Florida State (FSU), No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 South Florida and No. 25 California State Fullerton.
FGCU has not been to the NCAA College Softball tournament since 2012, so they are preparing themselves for their goal to make it to the national tournament again.
FGCU plays LIU-Brooklyn at 4:30 pm and U-Conn at 6 pm on Friday February 10th at the FGCU Softball Complex.
Last year, the Eagles went 32-27 with a 13-5 record in conference and won the season crown before falling in the A-SUN championship finals to USC Upstate. If FGCU would have won against Upstate in the game, they would have to play them again due to the double elimination rules and Upstate did not lose any of their games in the whole tournament.
The softball team lost five players on the team including A-SUN Player of the Year Alexis "Louie" Ross. This year, they will lose four seniors: catcher Brianna Tourtillott, right-handed pitcher Taylor Wade, second baseman Jeanie Verderese and catcher Amber Plaza.
Tourtillott, a double transfer from the University of Texas- El Paso (UTEP) and NJCAA Tallahassee Community College (TCC) was the starting catcher for FGCU. In 33 games, Tourtillott hit two home runs and drove in nine RBIs.
Wade earned All-Tournament Team honors during the A-SUN softball tournament for her performance in the tournament.
Verderese was captain of the team and a two-time member of the A-SUN All-Academic Team.
Plaza, a transfer from NJCAA Miami Dade College, started nine of her 10 games she played in, although she missed a majority of the season due to an injury.
FGCU signed three new players to the team: freshman right-handed pitcher Morgan White and two transfers: junior third baseman Erica Ward (State College of Florida) and sophomore Caley Chappel (USC Upstate).
White is a graduate from Forest High School where she was the 2015 Florida Miss Softball, a MaxPreps All-American, the Dairy Farmers 6A Player of the Year, Miracle Sports 6A Player of the Year, the OSB Pitcher of the Year and Forest High School Varsity team MVP, so this is her first year playing for the Eagles. White is also the only freshman on the team.
Ward spent her first two years at State College of Florida (SCF) of the Suncoast Coference in FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8. Ward led the Manatees in home runs (11) last season and signed a national letter of intent (NLI) to join FGCU with her remaining two years of eligibility.
Chappel played for conference rival USC Upstate and played against FGCU her freshman year, where the Spartans won the A-SUN championship before falling to Auburn and Jacksonville State in the NCAA regionals. Chappel joins FGCU with three years of eligibility remaining.
Some of the key returning players for FGCU include sophomore left-handed pitcher Riley Randolph, sophomore first baseman Racquel Fournet and junior outfielder Kelsey Huff.
Randolph was the A-SUN Freshman of the Year and A-SUN Pitcher of the Year as well as a member of the A-SUN All-Conference First Team, A-SUN All-Freshman and NFCA All-South Region Third Team. She went 16-5 with a 1.39 ERA and struck out 123 batters.
Fournet was a member the A-SUN All-Freshman Team as well as a member of the A-SUN Al-Conference First Team. She led the team in home runs (7) and doubles (16) last season.
Huff earned A-SUN All-Conerence Second Team honors and was a former member of the A-SUN All-Freshman Team. She led the team in stolen bases last season (25).
In the first two games of the season, FGCU will play two teams: Long Island University-Brooklyn (LIU for short) and the University of Connecticut (U-Conn).
Scouting the Blackbirds:
LIU was 30-27 last season and 14-2 in the Northeast Conference finishing first, where they won their conference tournament before losing to at the time No. 10 LSU and Arizona State in the NCAA National Tournament regional.
They were originally suppose to play FGCU last season, but their match-up was cancelled due to half of the team being sick. LIU will have 16 returners including senior infielder Celinna Cosio and junior right-handed pitcher Erynn Sobieski.
Scouting The Huskies:
U-Conn finished 7th and were 19-33 with a 4-12 record in the American Athletic Conference (AAC). U-Conn will have 10 returning players including sophomore right-handed pitcher Jill Stockley.
FGCU will play four teams that are currently the top 25 in the nation: No. 5 Florida State (FSU), No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 South Florida and No. 25 California State Fullerton.
FGCU has not been to the NCAA College Softball tournament since 2012, so they are preparing themselves for their goal to make it to the national tournament again.
FGCU plays LIU-Brooklyn at 4:30 pm and U-Conn at 6 pm on Friday February 10th at the FGCU Softball Complex.
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