FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU softball team (23-30, 5-15 A-Sun) concluded its season with a 3-2 loss to Lipscomb (29-23, 14-6 A-Sun) on Friday afternoon at the FGCU Softball Complex.

Junior Alexis Ross (Cape Coral, Fla./Ida S. Baker HS) went 1-for-3 and had an two-run double while senior Kelsey Carpenter (Oviedo, Fla./Hagerty HS) added a single and a run.

Senior Shelby Morgan (High Springs, Fla./Sante Fe HS) took the circle for the Eagles and threw a complete game. The senior allowed six hits, three runs, one earned, walked two and struck out three.

Down by a run in the seventh with sophomore Jeanie Verderese (Jacksonville, Fla./Creekside HS) at the plate, freshman Natalie Lopez (Miami, Fla./Westminster Christian HS) attempted to steal second but was thrown out for the final out of the game.

"As far as the game is concerned, we gave ourselves a chance to win the game and we just couldn't come up with the big hit," said head coach David Deiros. "I ask our kids to compete until the end and that's what they did. The long and the short of it is we took a chance at the end to take a base and you have to give their catcher a lot of credit, she came up with a big throw."  

With two outs in the third, Verderese hit an infield single. The sophomore then stole second base before Carpenter reached via a walk. Ross then hit double to left center, scoring Verderese and Carpenter to tie the game.

The Lady Bisons scored their three runs on six hits and two errors and enter the A-Sun Tournament as the No. 2 seed.

"From the season's perspective, obviously it didn't end the way we wanted it to," added Deiros. "We will take a step back and figure out which way we will go. I would be remiss if I did not congratulate our group of four seniors that have done a fantastic job of representing the university in the community, classroom and on the field. It would have been nice to get a win today but the competition and love on the field today were for Amanda Byers, Christine Marino, Shelby Morgan and Kelsey Carpenter."

The 2015 Atlantic Sun Tournament will begin on May 6 at the FGCU Softball Complex with the top six in the conference competing for a spot in the A-Sun Championship game on May 9.  USC Upstate (40-8, 18-2 A-Sun), Kennesaw State (31-17, 12-8 A-Sun), North Florida (30-25, 12-9 A-Sun), Stetson (27-18, 10-11 A-Sun) and Jacksonville (26-26, 8-11 A-Sun), respectively, earned the other five spots in the tournament. USC Upstate and Lipscomb will have bye for day one as they earned the top two seeds. For more information visit AtlanticSun.org.

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  .680 (512-242-3). 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.