TAMPA, Fla. - The FGCU softball team suffered a 9-0 defeat to Illinois on Friday in game two of the USF Tournament.

Friday's shutout loss to the Illini marked just the second time this season that FGCU has been held scoreless. On Feb. 22, South Florida posted a 3-0 victory against the Eagles.

FGCU now falls to 13-11 on the season with back-to-back losses to Big Ten opponents, while Illinois improved to 13-6. On Thursday, FGCU lost a wire-to-wire 3-2 battle vs. Penn State.

"Just not our day, starting with my coaching," said FGCU softball head coach David Deiros. "The good news is that we have two more games Saturday, and I guarantee that we will be better."

Illinois jumped on the Eagles early, scoring two in the first and two in the second to take a 4-0 advantage.

FGCU held the Illini scoreless in the third, fourth, and fifth innings as senior Ally Hulme (Safety Harbor, Fla./Sickles HS/State College of Florida) came in on relief to help keep the Eagles within striking distance. Junior Claire Maulding (Casey, Ill./Casey Westfield HS/Lake Land College) earned the starting nod and was credited with the loss (3-2), allowing four runs on four hits in just two innings of work.

The Eagles defense did not do the pitching staff any favors Friday, committing four errors. Only four of Illinois' runs were considered earned. FGCU is 1-5 on the season when committing two or more errors.

Hulme pitched four innings and stuck out two. She is now just 17 strikeouts away from surpassing Sarah Lawton to move into FGCU's all-time top 10 list for career strikeouts. 

The Green & Blue showed signs of life in the third as freshman Emily Chiarella (Lutz, Fla./Steinbrenner HS) broke up the no-hitter with an infield single, and sophomore Avery Viancos (Orlando, Fla./Lake Nona HS) followed with a single of her own. Chiarella produced two of FGCU's three hits on the day, her fourth multi hit game of the season.

Still trailing 4-0 in the home half of the fifth, sophomore McKenzie Wittenberg (Fort Myers, Fla./Riverdale HS/Florida SouthWestern State & Louisiana) took one for the team and then junior Caridad Estes (West Palm Beach, Fla./Oxbridge Academy of the Palm Beaches/Ball State) forced a 13-pitch walk to put two on for the Eagles with no outs. The Eagles threat to make things interesting was eliminated by being caught on the basepaths, a strikeout looking, and a groundout.

Illinois added three runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh to cushion its lead to nine.

The Eagles get another shot at Penn State on Saturday at 9 a.m. FGCU is also set to face Saint Francis Saturday at 11:30 a.m. and will close the USF Tournament with Marist on Sunday at 1 p.m.

For up-to-the-minute information on the FGCU softball program, follow on Twitter @FGCU_Softball, Instagram at fgcusoftball, Facebook, and stay tuned at FGCUAthletics.com.

COACH DEIROS
The founding father of FGCU softball, David Deiros enters his 21st season as head coach in 2023. Hired in 2001 to build the program from the ground up, Deiros has since guided the Eagles to a 719-408-3 (.636) record, gone 176-109 (.618) in the ASUN, had 16 seasons with a winning record and nine campaigns of 35+ wins. Deiros has also led the Eagles to three ASUN regular season championships (2008, 2012, and 2016) and one ASUN Tournament title (2012). In 2012, FGCU defeated No. 5 Florida in its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. Last season (2022), FGCU took down both No. 8 Texas and No. 10 Florida once again. 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 FGCUCampus Food Pantry (https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/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 https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.   

ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 95 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 15-plus seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 11-plus seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 47 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. In 2022, the men's golf team became the first program to earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Nine FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport -- including women's basketball (No. 20 in 2021-22 and No. 23 in 2022-23), baseball (No. 24 in 2023), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2022) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as four of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green & 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 3.66 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2022 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 27 consecutive semesters. The past seven semesters (Fall 2019 – Fall 2022) saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher cumulative team GPA. 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.

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