FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU softball team walked off the Memphis Tigers, 3-2, Sunday afternoon, to salvage a split on the final day of the FGCU Invitational. Earlier in the day, the Eagles fell to Austin Peay, 2-1.
The Eagles improve to 6-5 on the season while Memphis falls to 3-7 and Austin Peay improves to 7-3.
"I like our fight," said head coach
David Deiros. "We had a chance to win game one and actually walked off in game two. I really like how we are fighting through adversity."
Trailing 2-0 to Memphis in the sixth, the Eagles tied it up off the bat of redshirt-senior
Cana Davis (Harrisonburg, Va./Turner Ashby HS/Virginia Tech). With two runners on, she hit a rocket toward shot and when the shortstop could not get a glove on the ball, it went all the way to the wall. Senior
Reedy Davenport (St. Johns, Fla./Bartram Trail HS) scored easily from second while junior
Abbey Thomas (Fort Myers, Fla./Southwest Florida Christian Academy) had to get on her horse to score from first, sliding in just ahead of the tag.
After junior
Ally Hulme (Safety Harbor, Fla./Sickles HS/State College of Florida) struck out the side in the top of the seventh, the Eagles completed their comeback in the home half. Senior
McKenna Batterton (Norco, Calif./Eleanor Roosevelt HS) singled to lead off the inning and advanced to second on an interference call. Freshman
Lillian Wilkerson (Trenton, Fla./Trenton HS) then bunted her over to set the stage for graduate student
Hope Hernandez (Tampa, Fla./Chamberlain HS/Troy).
On a 1-0 pitch, Hernandez chopped a ball toward third. The ball took a big bounce and went over the third baseman's head and past the shortstop as Batterton scored the winning run.
In the first game of the day against Austin Peay, the Eagles trailed 1-0 until the fifth when Thomas socked her first home run of the season to tie the game.
However, the Governors retook the lead in the sixth and held on to win.
Hulme threw six solid innings, allowing just the two runs while striking out four, but suffered the loss.
The Eagles will be back in action next weekend when they hit the road for the first time to compete at the Spring Games in Leesburg. They will kick things off against Cornell on Friday at 4 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 694-369-3 (.653), 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.
