FORT MYERS, Fla. - Florida Gulf Coast University softball will host conference leading North Florida in the regular season finale. The three-game series will be played on Friday and Saturday with a doubleheader on Friday. Saturday's game will start at 1 p.m. with Friday's doubleheader starting at 4 p.m. A ceremony honoring head coach
David Deiros will start at 3:45 p.m. as he transitions into an athletics administration role.
This series will determine FGCU's seeding in the upcoming Atlantic Sun Conference tournament. The Eagles (26-26, 13-8 ASUN) currently sit at second place in the graphite division which will secure either a three or a four seed and a double bye, automatically in the double elimination portion of the bracket. Their magic number is two. Any combination of two FGCU wins and Stetson loses will secure the double bye.
Seeding will be determined by who has the higher RPI among the two teams finishing in the same spot within their division. A second place finish in one's division gets a three or four seed while a third place divisional finish gets a five or six seed. Below are the RPI ranks of FGCU and teams in the gold division that they will be competing for seeding.
- EKU – 49
- Central Arkansas – 69
- North Alabama – 80
- Austin Peay – 91
- FGCU – 125
- Lipscomb – 151
Olivia Black looks to continue her hot performances. The outfielder set the DI era record for stolen bases in a season, currently sitting at 36. In conference games she has been remarkable, slashing .460/.534/.603 and a perfect 26-for-26 in stolen bases. She is fourth in batting average, sixth in on base percentage, ninth in OPS, first in runs scored, third in hits, first in triples and first in stolen bases among qualified players in conference games.
The Osprey have been dominant in the graphite division, going 20-1 this season. They are led by one of the best two-way players in the country, Allison Benning, who is slashing .405/.605/.897 while posting a 1.50 ERA and 0.95 WHIP in 30 appearances and seven complete games.
Following this series, the Green and Blue will travel to Oxford, Ala. for the ASUN tournament. They will either start play on May 6 as a five or six seed or on May 7 as a three or four seed.
