FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU softball team hits the road for the first time this season as the Eagles travel to Leesburg for The Spring Games.
The Green and Blue will play five games this weekend beginning with Cornell at 4 p.m. on Friday afternoon. The Eagles will then play Rutgers (1:30 p.m.) and Notre Dame (4 p.m.) on Saturday before closing out the weekend with the Fighting Irish (9:30 a.m.) and Siena (12 p.m.) on Sunday.
All the games will be available to stream on flosoftball.com or you can follow along with live stats which can be found on our schedule page
here.
The Eagles currently sit at 6-5 on the season after going 4-2 this past weekend at the FGCU Invitational. FGCU defeated Boston College, Memphis, and Belmont twice while falling to Austin Peay on Saturday and Sunday.
That came on the heels of a 2-2 weekend in the FGCU Kickoff Classic where the Eagles took down eighth-ranked Texas, 6-4.
Redshirt-senior
Cana Davis (Harrisonburg, Va./Turner Ashby HS/Virginia Tech) paces the Eagles with a .435/.480/.609 slash line, leading the team in all three categories. She has also added a team-high four doubles and eight RBI.
Seniors
McKenna Batterton (Norco, Calif./Eleanor Roosevelt HS) and
Reedy Davenport (St. Johns, Fla./Bartram Trail HS) are also off to fast starts this season as they are hitting .367 and .353, respectively.
In the circle, junior
Ally Hulme (Safety Harbor, Fla./Sickles HS/State College of Florida) is 4-2 with a 2.90 ERA and 20 strikeouts to lead the team. Her four wins are the most among ASUN pitchers and also tied for 13th most in the nation.
Scouting Cornell
Not only will this be the first game of the season for the Big Red, but it is the first game since 2020 as the Ivy League canceled all sports last year due to COVID-19. In its last full season in 2019, Cornell went 10-36, but they do return seven position starters and three of its top four pitchers from the pandemic-shortened 2020 season in which they started 4-5.
Scouting Rutgers
Rutgers is off to its best start in 26 years. The Scarlet Knights are out to a 7-3 start following a 5-0 weekend at the Pirate Clash with a pair of wins over Wagner and Colgate along with a victory over host ECU. Infielder Maddie Lawson was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week for the week ending Feb. 20 after hitting .500 with three multiple-hit games along with six RBIs and two runs scored.
Inside the circle, Ashley Hitchcock held down a 1.67 ERA in a 3-0 weekend. The junior right-hander pitched three complete games with a save over her four outings. She allowed five earned runs and sent down 26 on strikes. Jaden Vickers, meanwhile, was 2-0 with a 1.75 ERA and 10 strikeouts. The junior left-hander tossed 12.0 innings allowing only three earned runs.
Scouting Notre Dame
The Fighting Irish are also 7-3 to begin the season and are coming off two ranked wins at the St. Pete Clearwater Elite Invitational. At the SPCE, the Irish got off to a slow start, falling against No. 20 Tennessee, Wisconsin and No. 22 South Florida before taking down then 21-ranked LSU and ninth-ranked Texas in back-to-back games to conclude the weekend. Notre Dame moved their way into the rankings, receiving votes in several polls and ranking 24th by Softball America.
Scouting Siena
Like Cornell, this will be the Saints' first games of the season. Last season, Siena went 19-15, posting its first winning record since 2016. The Saints were selected to finish seventh in the 2021 MAAC Preseason Coaches' Poll as they return five starters from last season and half its pitching staff.
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.
