TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The FGCU softball team's (13-2) winning streak came to an end Friday afternoon as the Eagles were edged by Hofstra (10-4) in game one 2-1, followed by a 5-0 loss to #6 Oregon (16-3) on day one of the FSU Unconquered Invitational.

"We can't allow how we played today to define who we've been in 2018," commented head coach David Deiros. "We need to learn from our failure today and recommit to our plan."

In the first contest of the day, the Eagles held a 1-0 advantage after four innings, before a two-run fifth from The Pride ultimately proved to be enough. In the final game of the night, Oregon jumped on the board quickly with a three-run blast from Gwen Svekis in the first frame en route to a 5-0 final.

GAME ONE: FGCU 1, HOFSTRA 2
Scoreless after two, FGCU kicked off its bottom half of the second with back-to-back singles. Shortly after, Kelsey Huff (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla./Dwyer HS) reached on a sacrifice bunt as the muffed throw from second would allow Bri Innamorato (Mullica Hill, N.J./Bishop Eustace HS) to come around from second and score.

FGCU remained ahead 1-0 until Hofstra struck back with an RBI double to right-center in the fifth. Staying in the same frame, The Pride pushed one more runner across home off a base hit to take the 2-1 lead.

The Eagles would remain hitless the rest of the way, being limited to just three hits in total.

Riley Randolph (St. Petersburg, Fla./Northeast HS) tossed six innings of work, scattered eight hits while allowing two earned runs as the junior suffered her first loss of the year (5-1).

GAME TWO: FGCU 0, OREGON 5
FGCU faced a jam early on against the 6th-ranked Ducks as starting pitcher Morgan White (Ocala, Fla./Forest HS) faced just two batters after exiting the circle as Marissa Mesiemore  (Bushnell, Fla./South Sumter HS) inherited two runners. Two batters later, Oregon capitalized with a three-run blast to take a 3-0 lead.

In the third and sixth, the Ducks plated two more runners on a sacrifice fly along with an RBI base hit en route to the 5-0 final.

The FGCU offense struggled to get going, producing just one hit in the first inning, while collecting its last hit in the fifth frame. Ducks starting pitcher Megan Kleist (6-2) was a force in the circle going the full seven innings to go along with 15 strikeouts.

White gets tagged with the loss moving to 1-1 on the year, while Mesiemore tossed five innings, surrendering four hits while fanning four Ducks.

UP NEXT
FGCU returns back tomorrow to face #13 host FSU (12-6) at 12:30 p.m. and will end day two with a rematch against Oregon at 5:30 p.m.

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 is in his 16th season as head coach. Hired in 2001 to build the program from the dirt up, Deiros has since guided the Eagles to a 586-300-3 (.661) overall mark, 12 seasons with a winning record, and eight campaigns with 35 wins. 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.