FORT MYERS, Fla. – Facing an NCAA Tournament-tested team to open the 2017 season the FGCU softball team put together two solid performances, leading to a sweep of the LIU-Brooklyn Blackbirds Friday night. An 8-0 run rule victory to end the day narrowly bested the season-opening 7-0 win as the Eagles begin the year 2-0 while the Blackbirds start 0-2.

"We played two pretty efficient games today," said head coach David Deiros. "We took advantage of some of the opportunities we had, came up with some big hits, stopped the bleeding when they put us under some pressure, and it was really just two pretty good softball games all the way around in all facets. We still have more work to do but I liked our attitude the entire way through and that's the key to our success. If we can stay positive even when things may not be going in our favor, that's going to be a big key."

The FGCU offense came alive in the middle innings, propelling the Eagles to a 7-0 win in Game One. A four-run, two-out rally in the third was all the Green and Blue required but the offense tacked on two more in the fourth and an additional run in the sixth for the 7-0 final.

Game Two was more of the same as the Eagles used an all-around team effort to seal the doubleheader sweep with an 8-0 win. A three-run second inning was followed by a pair of insurance runs in the third, an additional run in the fourth and the final two in the sixth which closed a 2-0 opening day mark.

GAME ONE: FGCU 7, LIU-Brooklyn 0
The defending ASUN Pitcher of the Year and the preseason favorite to repeat, Riley Randolph (St. Petersburg, Fla./Northeast HS) started 2017 in a similar fashion, a complete-game shutout. The lefty scattered two hits through seven innings, paving the way for FGCU's season-opening win.

The offense clicked for FGCU in the third inning with two outs. LuLu Newmark (Pembroke Pines, Fla./American Heritage HS/Bowling Green) began the rally, doubling down the left field line. The Blackbirds elected not to pitch to Racquel Fournet (Windermere, Fla./Windermere Preparatory School), sending Brittany McGuire (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla./Ponte Vedra HS) to the plate who singled up the middle, plating Newmark. After a walk, junior Erica Ward (Jacksonville, Fla./Trinity Christian Academy/State College of Florida) delivered a single to right that scored two runs. Bree Tourtillott (Dixon, Ill./Oregon HS/Tallahassee Community College) capped the scoring with a sharp ground ball up the middle, knocked down by the shortstop who was unable to make a play allowing Fournet to come home.

Leading 4-0, FGCU scored two more times in the fourth and tacked on another in the sixth, giving Randolph more than enough run support. Randolph fanned five over her seven innings of work for her first win of the season.

Newmark led the way for the offense, tallying three hits and scoring two runs. McGuire drove in a pair on two hits while Ward picked up her first career RBIs with her base knock. Tourtillott also finished the game with two hits.

GAME TWO: FGCU 8, LIU-Brooklyn 0 (Six Innings)
The first run-rule win of the season finished off the first doubleheader sweep of 2017 as the Eagles blanked the Blackbirds 8-0.
Kelsey Huff (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla./Dwyer HS) got the offense going in the second, crushing a bases-clearing double to center field to give Taylor Wade (Pace, Fla./Pace HS) a 3-0 lead.

As FGCU put together another solid, all-around performance, Wade stifled LIU-Brooklyn. The senior limited the visitors to four hits, none for extra bases, while striking out a career-high six batters. Perhaps her biggest outs of the game came via the strikeout and with LIU Brooklyn threatening in the third. With runners at first and second and nobody out, Wade struck out the next two batters swinging before forcing a line out to retire the side and keep the Blackbirds off the board.

That allowed FGCU to tack on two more runs, on a pair of RBI singles off the bats of Bri Innamorato (Mullica Hill, N.J./Bishop Eustace HS) and Morgan Sutherland (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier HS), to extend the lead to 5-0.

Heading into the sixth, FGCU needed three to complete the run-rule victory and the Eagles would accomplish that goal. Fournet led off the inning with a single and moved to second on a ground out before coming home on a pair of wild pitches. Ashley Swiderski (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier HS) then walked, followed by a Jeanie Verderese (Jacksonville, Fla./Creekside HS) single to left and a Innamorato infield hit to load the bases for freshman Morgan White (Ocala, Fla./Forest HS). White delivered a game-winning single to right to score Swiderski and seal the win.

Innamorato finished the second end of the doubleheader with three hits, while Huff tallied two while driving in three.

UP NEXT
The Eagles take on LIU-Brooklyn for two more tomorrow beginning at 1 p.m. at the FGCU Softball Complex to complete a weather-shortened FGCU Kickoff Classic.

FOLLOW ALONG
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.
 
COACH DEIROS
The founding father of FGCU softball, David Deiros recently enters his 15th 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 .669 (546-268-3). 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.
 
SUPPORT THE CAUSE
FGCU Athletics sponsors events throughout the year to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.