Olivia Black set the DI era record for stolen bases in a single season with 35 as Florida Gulf Coast University softball swept the doubleheader against West Georgia in Carrollton, Ga. by scores of 2-1 and 10-5 to clinch a berth in the ASUN tournament.
In the first game,
Allison Sparkman set a new career-high for strikeouts in a game with 11 on her ledger in the complete game win. It was the most for an Eagle since March 7, 2021.
Victoria Ash came in for the second game, also pitching to a complete game win, only allowing one earned run.
The first game started with Black getting an RBI off a single to the shortstop to bring home
Emily Chiarella.
Alexis Cowles sent one over the wall in the fourth for a much needed insurance run, giving the Eagles a 2-0 lead. The Wolves (12-35, 4-16 ASUN) would claw one across in the fourth but FGCU (25-26, 12-8 ASUN) would prevail.
Sparkman was dealing all game, striking out 11, the first seven were swinging. She also kept the ball out of the danger zone, forcing seven ground outs to just one fly out.
The second game started with no runs in the first two innings, seemingly a sign of things to come as a continuation of a low scoring first game.
The scoring started in the third with two runs scoring on a Wolves error followed with a
Sophie Wylie double to bring in the third run of the inning. West Georgia would answer with one in the bottom half to bring the score to 3-1 after three.
The next three innings saw the Eagles offense come to life.
Nikki Gibson drove in a run in the fourth.
Avery Viancos drove a ball deep to center to allow Black to tag up and score standing up before a
Sophie Wylie homer would bring the Eagles' lead to 6-1.
The sixth inning for the Eagles showed that speed pays.
Tiffany Meek forced a throwing error on a rushed throw from the shortstop.
Maria Angelino walked.
Camryn Feast forced another throwing error with her legs.
Kendall Wylie came in to pinch hit and had a blooper find a spot in shallow right field. Black then walked home another run. Viancos hit another sacrifice fly for the next run before Cowles drove in Black for the 10-1 FGCU lead.
West Georgia would make it interesting with four unearned runs in the sixth and the seventh before the Eagles would eventually prevail, 10-5.
The Green and Blue currently sit in second in the graphite division, one game ahead of Stetson with four games to go. Stetson owns the tiebreaker.
FGCU cannot fall below third in their division but would need to remain ahead of the Hatters on record to remain at second in their division. FGCU has one more road game against West Georgia before hosting conference leading North Florida for three games in Fort Myers. Stetson has one more road contest against Jacksonville before hosting West Georgia, who are at the bottom of the division.
Should the Eagles fall to third in the graphite division, they will be a five or a six seed, depending on the RPI of the third place team in the gold division. Either way, the five and six seeds play the second game of the single-elimination portion of the tournament for a berth in the double elimination portion.
If the Eagles remain at second in the graphite division, they will be a three or a four seed, depending on the RPI of the second place team in the gold division. Either way, the three and four seeds start the ASUN tournament in the double elimination portion, a day later than the 5-10 seeds.
