FORT MYERS, Fla. – After falling to Pittsburgh (19-3) on Saturday night, the FGCU softball team (14-12) bounced back to beat the Panthers by a 4-2 count in extra innings on Sunday afternoon at the FGCU Softball Complex. The Eagles won the FGCU/Four Points by Sheraton Spring Break Classic with the victory over the Panthers in the championship game.

Senior Kelsey Carpenter (Oviedo, Fla./Hagerty HS) hit the game winning  two-run homer over the left field fence in the top of the eighth inning. Freshman Brittany McGuire (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla./Ponte Vedra HS) went 2-2 with an RBI and a walk while freshman Chandler Middlebrook (Auburndale, Fla./Auburndale HS) tacked on the fourth and final run for the Eagles with a pinch-hit RBI double to right center.

"I'm really proud of the way that our players came out and battled," said head coach David Deiros. "It was a very disappointing loss yesterday, but they came back and did a great job today. I really like the way that our team is zoning in and getting it done. This was the Championship game of the tournament and I am very proud of the way in which we won. We beat the kid that shut us down yesterday and we did a nice job of getting to her in the top of the eighth."

Junior Ashley Dobson (Wheatfield, Ind./Kankakee Valley HS) earned the complete-game victory to improve her record to 5-2 on the season. Dobson allowed four hits, two runs, one earned, walked two and struck out three.

The Panthers first run tied the game in the sixth. After the Eagles took the lead in the top of the eighth, Pittsburgh scored one more to end the game with two runs.

Freshman Kelsey Huff (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla./Dwyer HS) led off the game for FGCU with a single to the left side. Huff was caught stealing before Carpenter reached on a single down the right-field line. McGuire knocked Carpenter in with a double to right center to give the Green and Blue a 1-0 lead.

The game went into extras after the Panthers tied it in the sixth. With freshman Carissa LiCata (Okeechobee, Fla./Okeechobee HS) on base because of the international tie break rule, which places a runner on second in extra innings, Carpenter hit a two-run bomb to left on the first pitch of the inning to give the Eagles a 3-1 lead.

McGuire then doubled to right center before being replaced by pinch runner Kori Dunn (Chuluota, Fla./Lake Howell HS). Middlebrook then stepped to the plate as a pinch hitter and sent the ball into right center for an RBI double that gave the Green and Blue their fourth and final run of the game.

FGCU will return to action on Tuesday, Mar. 10 with a doubleheader against Pittsburgh at 4:45 p.m. and SIU Edwardsville at 7 p.m.

THE SCHEDULE

Friday, Mar. 6
Pittsburgh 8 Quinnipiac 0
LIU Brooklyn 9 Quinnipiac 0
Pittsburgh 1 Boston University 0
FGCU 7 LIU Brooklyn 1
FGCU 6 Boston University 1

Saturday, Mar. 7
LIU Brooklyn 10 Boston University 7 10 INN.
Boston University 11 Quinnipiac 2
Pittsburgh 6 LIU Brooklyn 1
FGCU 5 Quinnipiac 0
Pittsburgh 7 FGCU 1

Sunday, Mar. 8
Quinnipiac 2 Boston University 1
LIU Brooklyn 8 Quinnipiac 0
FGCU 4 Pittsburgh 2 8 INN.

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 is in 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  .691 (503-223-3). 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.