TAMPA, Fla. - The FGCU softball team departed the USF Tournament on Sunday with a 2-0 shutout victory over Marist.

The Eagles posted a 2-3 record in Tampa, and now sit at 15-12 overall on the year. FGCU lost all three of its games to Big Ten opponents, Penn State twice and Illinois once. The Green & Blue rebounded with victories against Saint Francis, setting a single-game school record in stolen bases with 12, and then outfoxed the Red Foxes on Sunday in the first-ever meeting between the two programs.

Despite FGCU's offensive attack being held in check Sunday for only three hits, the Eagles capitalized by drawing four walks and a hit by pitch to eventually push across two runs.

Two runs would be all that junior Claire Maulding (Casey, Ill./Casey Westfield HS/Lake Land College) and senior Ally Hulme (Safety Harbor, Fla./Sickles HS State College of Florida) needed. The duo combined for the five-hit shutout of Marist – the fourth shutout victory for FGCU this season - and helped to strand seven Red Foxes.

"Great job by our team today," said FGCU head coach David Deiros. "The pitching staff of Claire and Ally did a fantastic job of holding a very athletic team down. I thought we had some really solid at-bats that gave ourselves a chance to score even more, but our speed continues to give us an advantage and forces people to make mistakes." 

Maulding recorded a career-high five strikeouts and earned her fourth win. Hulme was credited with the save by pitching a hitless final three frames with two strikeouts.

Hulme is now 15 strikeouts away from surpassing Sarah Lawton to move into FGCU's all-time top 10 list for career strikeouts. 

The Eagles scored its two runs in the third inning courtesy of a Red Foxes throwing error. Freshman Nikki Gibson (Yorktown, Va./Grafton HS) would reach on a fielder's choice to score both graduate Tayli Filla (Fort Myers, Fla./Bishop Verot HS/USF) and freshman Emily Chiarella (Lutz, Fla./Steinbrenner HS).

Entering Sunday, FGCU was 4-11 when scoring five or less runs this season, now 5-11.The Green & Blue remained perfect in games played on Sunday, improving to 4-0. 

Chiarella recorded two of the three FGCU hits to give her a team-leading fifth multi-hit game of the year. She also broke up Kelly Myers' no-hit effort in the third. Tiffany Meek (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla./William T. Dwyer HS) produced the third Eagles hit with a single up in the middle in the sixth.

FGCU returns home Thursday to begin a three-game homestand with Chattanooga. Thursday's first pitch in game one against the Mocs is set for 6 p.m. The Eagles finish out the Chattanooga series with a doubleheader on Friday before hosting their ASUN Conference home-opening series against Jacksonville beginning with a March 18 doubleheader starting at 4 p.m.

For up-to-the-minute information on the FGCU softball program, follow on Twitter @FGCU_Softball, Instagram at fgcusoftball, Facebook at FGCU Softball, 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 721-409-3 (.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 96 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 48 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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