FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU softball team heads to Nashville this weekend to take on Lipscomb in its first ASUN road series of the season. The Eagles are currently 10-19 overall and 3-3 in the ASUN while the Bisons are 11-17 and 1-2 in conference play.
The two teams will play three games this weekend beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 2 p.m. and followed by a single game, Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Eagles are coming off a series win over Central Arkansas last weekend. After dropping the first game, 7-2, the Green and Blue bounced back to win the next two by scores of 3-2 and 2-0.
Redshirt-senior
Cana Davis (Harrisonburg, Va./Turner Ashby HS/Virginia Tech) paces the Eagles with a .429/.518/.800 slash line, leading the team in all three categories. Last week against the Bears, she blasted two home runs to give her a team-high five for the season while also picking up her 20th RBI of the year.
Senior
Tayli Filla (Fort Myers, Fla./Bishop Verot HS/USF) is also having a solid year at the plate as she is hitting .297 with a three doubles, a triple, and a home run.
In the circle, junior
Ally Hulme (Safety Harbor, Fla./Sickles HS/State College of Florida) is 6-7 with a 2.51 ERA and 57 strikeouts in 78.0 innings to lead the team. Junior
Riley Oakes (Oviedo, Fla/Bishop Moore Catholic HS/Radford) has also come on strong in the circle recently as she picked up two wins last weekend against Central Arkansas. For the season, she has a 3.88 ERA with 10 strikeouts and has picked up two saves.
Scouting Lipscomb
The Bisons enter the weekend at 11-17 after defeating Chattanooga, 11-10 in nine innings on Wednesday. That victory came on the heels of dropping two of three to North Florida last weekend to open ASUN play, salvaging the final game of the series against the Ospreys.
At the plate, Lipscomb is led by Presley Leebrick who is hitting .349 with 15 RBI. Maci Cuconan leads the Bisons with 19 RBI and is tied for the team-lead in home runs at three with Kamrie Rich. In the circle, Kate Peters leads the team with a 3.04 ERA while Emily Yakubowski has 31 strikeouts.
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 698-383-3 (.653), going 163-95 (.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
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#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.
