NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A three-run third and a LuLu Newmark solo home run in the fourth gave the No. 4 seed FGCU softball team a 4-0 victory over No. 5 Lipscomb and into the winner's bracket Wednesday evening. The Eagles (27-28) will now face top-seeded USC Upstate tomorrow at 11:30 local time while Lipscomb (35-19) will face Jacksonville.

"Riley located very well today, didn't walk anybody and induced a lot of contact she wanted," said head coach David Deiros. "She did a really great job and we were about as clean defensively as we've been all season. We made some good defensive plays defensively and we were opportunistic offensively in the second inning. LuLu hit a bomb when she got a pitch she could handle after coming back in the count. All around it was a great team win."  

Patience at the plate proved to be crucial in a three-run third inning that ultimately paved the way for a -4-0 victory over the tournament hosts. FGCU loaded the bases before Morgan Sutherland (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier HS) and Natalie Lopez (Miami, Fla./Westminster Christian HS) both drew walks and Kelsey Huff (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla./Dwyer HS) singled up the middle to give Riley Randolph (St. Petersburg, Fla./Northeast HS) a 3-0 lead. Newmark (Pembroke Pines, Fla./American Heritage HS/Bowling Green) then stepped to the plate in the fourth and hit her fourth home run of the season to make it 4-0 in the first. Randolph did the rest, surrendering only four hits the entire ballgame to send FGCU through to the winner's bracket.

The Eagles thought they had something going early in the contest after Jeanie Verderese (Jacksonville, Fla./Creekside HS) and Racquel Fournet (Windermere, Fla./Windermere Preparatory School) both reached on singles only for a close call at first and bad luck to end the threat. During Fournet's at-bat, Verderese was ruled to have left first early, sending the sophomore back to the plate and the senior to the dugout. Fournet then popped out to end the inning.

Randolph allowed the first of her two hits in the second but kept the runner on the bases allowing the Eagles to break through in the bottom half. Bri Innamorato (Mullica Hill, N.J./Bishop Eustace HS) led off the inning with a walk and on a Newmark single to shallow left that hit the chalk, moved to third when she saw the base was unoccupied. As Innamorato raced to third, Newmark alertly moved to second. Following a fly out, Bree Tourtillott (Dixon, Ill./Oregon HS/Tallahassee Community College) reached on an infield single that avoided the catcher, pitcher, and the third baseman to load the baseman. At that time, both Sutherland and Lopez drew walks to give FGCU a 2-0 lead before Huff drove in the third run of the inning a single to center.

While the Eagles left the bases loaded, another shutdown inning from Randolph brought the offense back to the plate. With one out, Newmark fought back from 0-2 down in the count to force a 3-2 offering that she crushed over the fence in left to put FGCU in front 4-0.

The four runs was all the sophomore needed, striking out nine for her 13th win of the season. The lefty did have to work out of a small jam in the seventh, allowing two singles but Tourtillott threw out a runner trying to advance to third on a potential wild pitch to end the game.

With her double in the fifth, Innamorato extended her hitting streak to six games. Newmark collected two hits in the ballgame to lead the Eagles.

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 (571-296-3). 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.