teamLEESBURG, Fla. – The FGCU softball team kicked off THE Spring Games, Friday afternoon with a 3-0 win over Cornell at the Sleepy Hollow Complex. The Eagles improve to 7-5 while the Big Red, playing their first game in nearly two years, fall to 0-1.

"It was a very efficient win," said head coach David Deiros. "It's nice to start out the weekend with a win and we look forward to coming back out tomorrow."

Juniors Ally Hulme (Safety Harbor, Fla./Sickles HS/State College of Florida) and Riley Oakes (Oviedo, Fla/Bishop Moore Catholic HS/Radford) combined for a two-hit shutout. Hulme struck out five in four innings to earn the win and improve to 5-2 while Oakes pitched the final three innings to earn her second save.

The Eagles did all the scoring in the first, putting up three runs on four hits. After senior McKenna Batterton (Norco, Calif./Eleanor Roosevelt HS) was hit by a pitch, redshirt-senior Cana Davis (Harrisonburg, Va./Turner Ashby HS/Virginia Tech) and senior Reedy Davenport (St. Johns, Fla./Bartram Trail HS) each hit doubles to score two. Graduate student Hope Hernandez (Tampa, Fla./Chamberlain HS/Troy) followed with a single to center to cap the scoring for the inning and as it turned out, the game as well.

The Eagles did not do much after the first as they only managed one more hit, a triple by Davis in the fifth.

Cornell could not get anything going against the Eagle pitching as no Big Red runner got to third base in the game. Aside from the strong pitching by the Green and Blue, the Eagles also displayed excellent defense with the play of the day coming from Davenport, the reigning ASUN Defensive Player of the Year, who dove full extension for a catch behind the third-base bag in the fifth.

FGCU will return to action tomorrow with two games. The Eagles will play Rutgers at 1:30 before battling #24 Notre Dame right after.

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 695-369-3 (.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.