FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU softball team looks to bounce back this week as they host South Florida for a doubleheader on Wednesday starting at 5 p.m. before heading to Orlando for games against UCF and South Carolina. The Eagles will play the Knights on Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 5 p.m., and Sunday at 11:30 a.m. while they will play the Gamecocks, Saturday at 12 p.m. and Sunday at 9 a.m.
The Eagles enter the week with a 7-9 record after going 1-4 this past weekend at THE Spring Games in Leesburg.
South Florida comes into Wednesday's doubleheader at 10-3 with wins over #7 Oklahoma State and #24 Notre Dame. UCF is 11-6 and, like FGCU, has defeated Top-25 Texas while South Carolina is 8-5.
The doubleheader against South Florida will be available to stream
here while the games against UCF this weekend will be available on
ESPN+.
For the Eagles, redshirt-senior
Cana Davis (Harrisonburg, Va./Turner Ashby HS/Virginia Tech) paces the Green and Blue with a .444/.524/.694 slash line, leading the team in all three categories. She has also added a team-high seven doubles and 10 RBI.
Senior
Tayli Filla (Fort Myers, Fla./Bishop Verot HS/USF) had a big weekend in Leesburg and raised her average to .394. Senior
McKenna Batterton (Norco, Calif./Eleanor Roosevelt HS) has also been solid at the plate, hitting .333 with a team-high six walks.
In the circle, junior
Ally Hulme (Safety Harbor, Fla./Sickles HS/State College of Florida) is 5-4 with a 2.49 ERA and 34 strikeouts to lead the team. Her five wins are tied for the most among ASUN pitchers
Scouting South Florida
The Bulls' success this season begins and ends with Georgina Corrick in the circle as she has allowed just one earned run in 55.0 innings for a 0.13 ERA while striking out 79 batters to the tune of an 8-0 record. Alexis Johns leads USF with a .438 batting average while Josie Foreman has a 1.074 OPS.
In the all-time series, the Bulls lead 11-5, but the Eagles won the last time the two teams met in Fort Myers, a doubleheader sweep in 2018.
Scouting Central Florida
Alysse Volpe leads the Knights with a .345 batting average while Shannon Doherty is hitting .333 with a team-high three home runs. In the circle, UCF regularly uses four different pitchers with three of them - Kaitlyn Felton, Gianna Mancha, and Grace Jewell - all having ERAs under three.
All-time, UCF leads the series 8-1 with the Eagles picking up their first win against the Knights last year when UCF was ranked #21.
Scouting South Carolina
Offensively, the Gamecocks are led by Emma Sellers who is hitting .444. Katie Prebble is the big power threat with five home runs while Hannah Kumiyama has a team-high 13 RBI. In the circle, Karsen Ochs has thrown the most innings and made the most starts, pitching to 3.82 ERA while striking out 10 batters in 22.0 innings.
The Eagles and Gamecocks have met just once before, a 2-0 South Carolina win in 2011.
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 695-373-3 (.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 89 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 14+ seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 10 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. 20, 2021-22), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2022) 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 25 consecutive semesters. The past five semesters (Fall 2019 – Fall 2021) 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.
