FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU softball team (6-8) will head to Leesburg, Fla., this weekend to play five games in three days in its final tune-up tournament before the start of ASUN action.
The Green and Blue
The Eagles are coming off a 2-3 outing at the Florida State Unconquered Invitational this past weekend. Despite falling to the 15th-ranked Seminoles twice and SE Louisiana, FGCU took down FAMU in two games, highlighted by
Marissa Mesiemore (Bushnell, Fla./South Sumter HS) tossing a no-hitter – the fifth in program history.
At the plate,
Johneisha Rowe (Avon Park, Fla./Sebring HS) leads the Eagles' attack with a .297 BA to go along with seven stolen bases (7-for-7). In the RBI column,
Taylor Bauman (Jacksonville, Fla./Atlantic Coast HS) boasts a team-best eight RBI and is slugging at a .447-clip (team leader). In the circle, the senior holds two wins and a 2.45 ERA with four complete games. She's holding opposing batters to a .226 BA.
South Dakota
This will be the second weekend of play for the Coyotes as their games last weekend at Furman were canceled. So far the squad is 1-5, led by Makayla Tsagalis at the plate who is hitting .417 with two doubles and three RBI. Three pitchers have been thrown into the rotation as Sara Lisko holds the only win with a pair of complete games.
This will be the first meeting between both programs.
Middle Tennessee
No stranger to Leesburg, the Blue Raiders will be at Sleepy Hollow Complex for a second time this season. They are currently 2-6 with two of those losses coming to No. 20 Missouri. Amaya Harris (.333) and Kelci Hill are the team's .300-plus hitters. Lexi Cushing and Nahri Tath-Slezak each lead the team in RBI (four).
Six pitchers have been used for the Blue Raiders, combining to post a 3.99 ERA. Amber Baldwin has seen the most innings of work (25.2) and holds a 2.73 ERA with one victory.
FGCU fell in the only meeting between the programs back in 2016, 4-2.
New Mexico State
The Aggies have been in Florida since the start of their season back on Feb. 12. At the moment, they are 3-9 with Hailey Tanori leading them at the plate posting a .361 BA with five doubles and three RBI. Ramsay Lopez leads the squad in home runs, cranking out three and in RBI (seven).
In the circle, Matalasi Faapito has collected two wins, three complete games in her 30 innings of work.
FGCU fell in the only meeting between both programs back in 2010, 7-5.
North Dakota
NDU enters the weekend with a 3-4 record, winning two-straight – last time out was Feb. 19. Cassie Castaneda is hitting .273 in four starts, pairing that with a .728 on-base plus slugging percentage. Five pitchers have seen action in the circle, as Jannay Jones is 1-0 with a 1.56 ERA.
The all-time series is tied, 1-1. FGCU took the last contest back in 2014, 13-0.
Toledo
The Rockets opened their season last weekend at Mercer's Black and Orange Challenge going 3-2. Over the three-day stretch, Raelyn Nyren and Dayna Denner each tallied three RBI with Dayner hitting two home runs. She is currently batting .353 behind team-leader Arika Reed (.500) – a minimum of five games played.
In the circle, Erin Hunt has two of the three wins with a 1.59 ERA in 22 innings.
This will be the first meeting between FGCU and Toledo.
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.
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COACH DEIROS
The founding father of FGCU softball, David Deiros is in his 19th season as head coach. Hired in 2001 to build the program from the dirt up, Deiros has since guided the Eagles to a 667-353-3 (.652), going 147-90 (.620) in the ASUN, having 14 seasons with a winning record, and nine 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.
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 84 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 13 seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just nine seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 38 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Seven FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport – including women's basketball (No. 24, 2019-20) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as three of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors' Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate (APR) in their sport and have had the highest percentage of teams so honored from these two groups over each of the past three years. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.46 GPA in the classroom in the spring 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 22 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall and 2020 Spring semesters each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 – being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
