Tampa, Fla. – The FGCU Softball team (2-3) will travel to USF this weekend to play in the President's Day Tournament from Friday, Feb. 13 through Sunday Feb. 15. The Bulls host the tournament which includes No. 13 Tennessee, St. John's University, Fordham University and the University of Detroit.

The Green and Blue will begin the tournament against Tennessee in a 1:30 p.m. start Friday afternoon. After the opening game they will take on Detroit at 6 p.m. On Saturday, the Eagles are scheduled to play St. John's at 9 a.m. and Fordham at 1:30 p.m. FGCU concludes tournament play when they take the field against USF at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

SCOUTING THE FIELD
The Volunteers are 4-0 on the season and have defeated two Atlantic Sun foes in Kennesaw State and Northern Kentucky by a combined score of 28-7. Sophomore Annie Aldrete was named to the USA Player of the Year Watch List after hitting 19 homeruns, driving in 65 runs and slugging .813 last season. This year she is hitting .500 with one homer and four RBIs. Sophomore Taylor Koenig had an explosive first weekend for Tennessee hitting .667 with two homeruns, 10 RBIs, with a .750 OBP and a slugging percentage of 1.556. The Volunteers leading pitcher is Gretchen Aucoin who is 2-0 so far with 10 strikeouts and a 0.00 ERA in 8.1 innings.

The Eagles will continue action with Detroit of the Horizon League on Friday evening. The Titans return to the diamond after posting an overall record of 7-42 and a 3-16 conference mark. Detroit received two selections to the Horizon League All-Conference First Team.  The first was senior shortstop Kayla Kostich who led the team last year with a .331 average to go along with 47 hits including nine doubles and two triples. The second selection was junior first baseman Christina McGahuey who led the team with 10 homers, 22 RBIs and had a slugging percentage of .651 last season.

On Saturday morning, the Green and Blue will take on St. John's. The Red Storm are 3-1 on the season after being selected to finish second in the Big East Coaches Poll. Senior Erin Burner leads St. John's with a .538 batting average while Junior Carly Williams comes into the weekend hitting .455 with the only homer on the team and a slugging percentage of .727. The pitcher to watch for is freshman McKenzie Murray who is 2-0 on the season with a 1.62 ERA in 8.2 innings.

The Eagles will conclude play on Saturday with a game against Fordham. The Rams are 2-3 on the season after playing in the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz. last weekend. Fordham is looking for its third straight Atlantic 10 Conference Championship and was unanimously picked to finish first after a 36-20 record last season. Sophomore Amy Van Hoven is batting .400 on the season with six hits and four runs which leads the team. Rachel Gillen is 2-1 on the season after posting a 0.76 ERA in 18.1 innings with 20 strikeouts during the season opening tournament.

FGCU will round out the tournament against USF Sunday afternoon. The Bulls have opened the season with a 3-2 mark and were selected to finish third in the American Athletic Conference. Junior Lee Ann Spivey started the year by hitting .375 with one homerun, four runs, six RBIs, 12 total bases and a slugging percentage of .750. Junior Erica Nunn has a 1-1 record in the circle with an ERA of 0.75 in 9.1 innings and 11 strikeouts.

THE GREEN AND BLUE
The Eagles have started the season with a 2-3 record after they faced a challenging field at the Sand Dollar Classic in Gulf Shores, Ala.

Offensively, the Eagles were led by junior Makensie McAvoy (Plant City, Fla./Plant City HS) who went 8-for-16 at the plate for a .500 average. McAvoy recorded four runs, eight total bases and a walk. The outfielder is holding a slugging percentage of .529 through the five games with a fielding percentage of 1.000. Junior Alexis Ross (Cape Coral, Fla./Ida S. Baker HS) and freshman Chandler Middlebrook (Auburndale, Fla./Auburndale High School) led the team in runs batted in with four each while Middlebrook added two homers.

The pitching staff was led by senior Shelby Morgan (High Springs, Fla./Sante Fe HS) who went 1-0 on the weekend allowing eight runs, seven earned over 11 innings and struck out five against McNeese State and Southern Miss.

THE TOURNAMENT
The USF President's Day Tournament will get underway at 9 a.m. on Friday as St. John's takes on Fordham.  The final game of the tournament is Sunday at 2 p.m. when the Green and Blue take on host school USF.

THE SCHEDULE

Friday, Feb. 13
1:30 p.m. No. 13 Tennessee vs. FGCU
6 p.m. Detroit vs. FGCU

Saturday, Feb 14
9 a.m. St. John's vs. FGCU
1:30 p.m. Fordham vs. FGCU

Sunday, Feb 15
2 p.m. USF vs. FGCU

For up-to-the minute information on the FGCU softball program, follow on Twitter @FGCU_Softball and Instagram at fgcusoftball and stay tuned at FGCUAthletics.com.

The founding father of FGCU softball, David Deiros enters his 13th season as head coach. Hired in 2001 to build the program from the dirt up, Deiros has since guided the Eagles to 11 seasons with a winning record, eight campaigns with 35+ wins and a win percentage of .699 (489-211-3). The 2014 Eagles finished with a 33-26-1 and wins over SEC, Big 10, Big East, and ACC opponents.  FGCU finished their season with an RPI ranking in the top-100 for the 3rd consecutive season and the 5th time in their seven years at Division I. Deiros is a former head coach at the 1998 Florida State Runner-up Lely High School in Naples and is the founding head coach of the 1999 District Champion/2001 Regional Runner-up Gulf Coast High School in Naples.