FORT MYERS, Fla. - fter defeating #8/#10 Texas on Friday, the FGCU softball team attempted to pull off an impressive sweep of the Longhorns on Saturday. The Eagles went ahead early, but could not complete the feat, falling to the Longhorns, 10-2, in six innings.

The Eagles fall to 2-2 on the season while Texas improves to 3-1.

"It really is tough to beat a quality opponent consecutively," said head coach David Deiros. "It was tight game early, we took the lead, and then they captured the momentum and never relinquished it. There's lots of lessons to be learned by our coaching staff and our players and we will continue to strive to be able to compete at this level because that's where we want to be."

Senior Emily Estroff (Cocounut Creek, Fla./Coral Springs Charter HS/Villanova) and junior Riley Oakes (Oviedo, Fla./Bishop Moore Catholic HS/Radford) had the lone hits for the Eagles on the night as All-American Longhorn pitcher Hailey Docini struck out 12 in six innings pitched.

Junior Ally Hulme (Safety Harbor, Fla./Sickles HS/State College of Florida) kept the Longhorns off the board in the first three innings thanks to some stellar Eagle defense. Estroff off made two diving plays, one to each side of her, in the second inning while junior Jordyn Gendron (Tampa, Fla./Wharton HS) made a diving catch in the third inning, running in from third base on a short pop-up. All three plays were part of a stretch for Hulme in which she retired seven straight Texas hitters.

In the bottom of the third, the Eagles took advantage of some shoddy Longhorn defense to take the lead. With graduate student Hope Hernandez (Tampa, Fla./Chamberlain HS/Troy) on first after a walk, Oakes slapped a single to third base, but when the Texas fielder attempted throw Hernandez out at second, the ball sailed into the outfield and all the way to the wall, allowing Hernandez to score.

Estroff followed by driving a deep double to center field to extend the Eagle lead to 2-0. Estroff now has four RBI on the season, tied for the team lead, in addition to her win in the circle she picked up against Texas on Friday.

The lead was short-lived, however, as the Longhorns scored four runs in the fourth to take the lead before adding three more in the fifth and sixth to pull away from the Eagles. After their two-run third inning, the Eagles only mustered one more baserunner the rest of the game as Dolcini got into a rhythm in the circle.

The Eagles will return to action tomorrow afternoon for the final day of the FGCU Kickoff Classic. It will be an all-Eagle battle as the Green and Blue will take on Boston College at 2 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 20th season as head coach during the 2022 campaign. Hired in 2001 to build the program from the dirt up, Deiros has since guided the Eagles to a 690-366-3 (.654), going 162-93 (.632) in the ASUN, having 15 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.

E.A.G.L.E. CAMPAIGN
IT TAKES A TEAM to achieve our newest goal - a $10 million campaign to address student-athlete needs in continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition, and strength and conditioning as well as departmental needs in facility expansion and improvement as well as mentoring and leadership training for coaches and staff. The name embodies our mission and the purpose of the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign - Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence. Join Our Team and pledge your gift today to help the Eagles of tomorrow!

#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April 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.

ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 87 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 14+ seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just nine seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 43 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 25, 2021-22), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2021) 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 in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.50 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 24 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall, 2020 Spring, 2020 Fall, and 2021 Spring semesters each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA in each. 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.