TAMPA, Fla. – The FGCU Softball team (4-6) dropped its final game at the USF President's Day Weekend Tournament. The Eagles played the host school USF (6-4) Sunday afternoon and lost by an 11-0 score.

"We had our opportunities to put runs on the board in four of the five innings," said head coach David Deiros.  "That being said we could not get a hit when we needed one. Unfortunately USF was able to take advantage of their opportunities in the third and they kept on rolling throughout the inning. We knocked out their starter in the third, but we need to do a better job when we have opportunities to score."

Sophomore Taylor Wade (Pace, Fla./Pace HS) took the circle for the Green and Blue and pitched two innings and started the third before freshman Gabbee Draney (Miami, Fla./Gulliver Prep High School) came in for a two-inning relief appearance. Wade allowed six hits, five earned runs, walked one and struck out one. As a reliever, Draney allowed six hits, six runs, five earned, walked two and struck out two.

Offensively, the Eagles could only muster five hits during the contest. Makensie McAvoy (Plant City, Fla./Plant City HS) contributed two hits with a single to the left side in the first and a base hit to right in the fifth, while Alexis Ross (Cape Coral, Fla.Ida S. Baker HS) added a single through the left side in the third and a single to the right side in the fifth.

The only other hit on the afternoon came from freshman Brittany McGuire (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla./Ponte Vedra High School) who doubled to left field in the second inning. FGCU had opportunities to score throughout the game as it stranded nine runners on base over the five innings.

The Bulls of USF exploded for all 11 of their runs in the third as the first eight batters of the inning reached base safely.  The 11 runs came from seven singles, three walks, two extra-base hits and a fielding error on the second baseman.

After the first 10 games of the year McAvoy leads the Eagles with a batting average of .448 with 13 hits in 29 at bats. Chandler Middlebrook (Auburndale, Fla./Auburndale High School) leads the team with two homeruns and seven runs batted in. Ashley Dobson (Wheatfield, Ind./Kankakee Valley High School) has a team best 4.90 ERA while Draney has the most strikeouts with 12.

The Green and Blue will return to action next weekend when they host the FGCU/Four Points by Sheraton Invitational from Friday, Feb. 20 until Sunday, Feb. 22. The Eagles will play Purdue, Bethune-Cookman, Stony Brook and Oakland.

THE SCHEDULE

Friday, Feb. 13
No. 11 Tennessee: 9 FGCU: 2
FGCU: 12 Detroit: 2
 
Saturday, Feb 14
FGCU: 2 St. John's: 1
Fordham: 11 FGCU: 1
 
Sunday, Feb 15
USF: 11 FGCU: 0

OTHER SCORES AT TOURNAMENT
Fordham: 3 St. John's: 0
No. 11 Tennessee: 5 Fordham: 0
USF: 4 St. John's: 2
USF: 8 Detroit: 0
St. John's: 3 Detroit: 2
No. 11 Tennessee: 9 USF: 1
No. 11 Tennessee: 14 Detroit: 0
Fordham: 14 USF: 6
No. 11 Tennessee: 9 St. John's 1
Fordham: 6 Detroit: 5

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 .695 (492-215-3). 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