FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU softball team is back in Southwest Florida this weekend as the Eagles are set to host Jacksonville State for a three-game set. The two teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 4 p.m. followed by a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Green and Blue currently sit at 11-21 overall this season and 4-5 in the ASUN after dropping two of three at Lipscomb last weekend. The Gamecocks enter the weekend with a 19-13 overall record and 3-3 record in league play.

Redshirt-senior Cana Davis (Harrisonburg, Va./Turner Ashby HS/Virginia Tech) paces the Eagles with a .425/.516/.788 slash line, leading the team in all three categories. She also leads the team with six home runs and 22 RBI.

Senior Tayli Filla (Fort Myers, Fla./Bishop Verot HS/USF) and senior Emily Estroff (Coconut Creek, Fla./Coral Springs HS/Villanova) each had solid weekends in Nashville and raised their batting averages to .301 and .297, respectively.

In the circle, junior Ally Hulme (Safety Harbor, Fla./Sickles HS/State College of Florida) is 7-9 with a 2.82 ERA and 69 strikeouts in 89.1 innings to lead the team. while junior Riley Oakes (Oviedo, Fla/Bishop Moore Catholic HS/Radford) has picked up a couple of wins and has a 3.86 ERA in 41.2 innings.

700 Club
Head coach David Deiros is just one win away from 700 for his career. The only coach in FGCU softball history, Deiros is 699-385-3 in his 20-year career and has averaged over 36 wins a season leading the Green and Blue.

Honoring our Past
Over the course of the season, the Eagles will welcome back back members from our first team back in 2003. This week five players from that team will return and throw out the first pitch.

#1 Lindsey Ijjas
#11 Lacey Bolman, née Carter
#20 Blaire Toleman
#21 Kelly Evans, née Morgan
#27 Erin Garcia, née Ogden

Scouting Jacksonville State
The Gamecocks are coming off 2-1 weekend against North Florida to improve to 3-3 in the ASUN.

Lindsey Richardson and Megan Fortner are each hitting over .350 while Fortner is tied with Brantly Bonds for the team-lead in home runs with four. Kat Carter and Sarah Currie both have ERAs under three this season. 

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 699-385-3 (.644), going 164-97 (.628) 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.