FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU softball team split two extra-inning affairs Saturday against North Florida – winning game one in walk-off fashion 6-5 in eight innings, and dropping game two 3-2 in eight innings at the FGCU Softball Complex.
Despite the doubleheader split, the Eagles (29-22, 11-9) moved into fourth place and a half-game ahead of Austin Peay (24-20, 11-10), which got swept by Liberty and now slides down into the fifth overall seed and a theoretical ASUN Tournament play-in game. The Eagles also hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Governors.
Saturday's game-one victory also marked the most home victories at the FGCU Softball Complex (21) since 2018. FGCU is on the precipice of its first 30-win season in five years as well.
"Two hard-fought games today," said FGCU softball head coach Davis Deiros." It would have been nice to go ahead and win both. We had chances to win both with seventh-inning opportunities on both occasions, but couldn't close the door. A split is a good start to the weekend. Now, we got to go ahead and cap it off tomorrow. Looking forward to celebrating our seven seniors: Owen, Tayli, Baylee, Ally, Riley, Neely, and Abbey."
Redshirt sophomore Meagan Ricks (Winter Haven, Fla./Winter Haven HS) provided the walk-off RBI double for the Eagles in game one. The Eagles held a 4-1 lead through five complete, as both graduate Tayli Filla (Fort Myers, Fla./Bishop Verot HS/USF) and senior Neely Peterson (Wesley Chapel, Fla./Cypress Creek HS/Colorado State & Santa Fe College) homered in the first and fourth innings respectively.
Sophomore Sam Leski's (Clearwater, Fla./Calvary Christian HS) RBI triple, combined with Filla's bunt single in the fifth, set the Eagles in motion for its three-run advantage.
North Florida responded in the sixth with three runs courtesy of two doubles to knot the game 4-4.
Freshman Emily Chiarella (Lutz, Fla./Steinbrenner HS) roped an RBI single in the home half of the sixth to break the tie and gave the Eagles back the lead for a brief moment. But the Ospreys took advantage of a two-out, seventh-inning Eagles error to force FGCU's first extra-inning contest of the season -- setting up Ricks' heroics in the eighth to complete the Eagles' sixth walk-off victory of the season. Senior Baylee Haggard (Naples, Fla./Palmetto Ridge HS/Florida SouthWestern State & South Florida State College) was credited with the win, her fifth of the year, pitching the final 2 ⅔ innings.
Eagles starter and junior Angelina Bonilla (Coral Gables, Fla./Coral Gables HS) fanned the first four batters she faced and tied her career high in strikeouts with seven. In 5 ⅓ innings of work, she scattered six hits and allowed four runs.
Four Eagles produced two or more hits in game one: Ricks, Chiarella, Filla, and sophomore Avery Viancos (Orlando, Fla./Lake Nona HS).
In game two, North Florida pulled another seventh-inning comeback, connecting on a two-out, two-run RBI triple to tie it 2-2. The Eagles then spotted North Florida's go-ahead and eventual winning run in the eighth courtesy of a bases-loaded walk.
FGCU was able to put the winning run on first base in the bottom fo the eighth, but could not complete a second straight walk-off victory.
Junior Claire Maulding (Casey, Ill./ Casey Westfield HS/Lake Land College) absorbed the loss, tossing the final 1 ⅔ innings. Freshman Tiffany Meek (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla./William T. Dwyer HS) finished game two 3-for-4 with an RBI, leading all Eagles.
The Eagles eye their sixth ASUN series win of the season at 1 p.m. Sunday in game three of the series. Sunday is also Senior Day as FGCU Athletics and coach Deiros will commemorate the 2023 senior class. Pre-game senior ceremonies are scheduled to begin at 12:40 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 is in his 21st season as head coach. Hired in 2001 to build the program from the ground up, Deiros has since guided the Eagles to a 735-419-3 (.635) record, gone 187-118 (.614) 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, FGCUdefeated 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 98 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. 22 in 2022-23), baseball (No. 15 in 2023), beach volleyball (No. 20 in 2022), and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as five 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 3.67 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.
---FGCUATHLETICS.COM---
