FORT MYERS, Fla. – Florida Gulf Coast softball (2-3, 0-0 ASUN) rallied late, but came up short, 5-3, against Kansas (3-3, 0-0 Big 12) on Tuesday.
Kiki Daniels hit her first home run of 2026 for the Eagles, and
Parris Wiggs drove in a run with an RBI double. Daniels also walked twice in the ballgame.
Bacoulis opened with back-to-back strikeouts looking after tallying six of her eight strikeouts against Long Island with the bat on the shoulder of the hitter. The Jayhawks got on the board in the top of the second with a two run homer from Hailey Cripe
In the bottom half of the second,
Ally Thompson lifted a bloop single into shallow right center that fell for a hit.
Tiffany Meek sprinted toward third and the throw from right field got away from Kansas' third baseman, allowing Meek to advance home for the Eagles' first run of the game.
Kansas pushed two unearned runs across in the top half of the third on a bases-loaded single to take a 4-1 lead.
Victoria Ash entered for FGCU and put up zeroes in the fourth and fifth, bringing the Eagles bats back to the plate. Daniels led off the inning and took the first pitch she saw deep to center field for the first homer of her sophomore campaign.
Nikki Gibson singled to get on base with two outs in the fifth and
Parris Wiggs hit a double to the left-center gap to drive her in and bring the score to 4-3.
Crispe hit her second home run of the game for the Jayhawks to go up 5-3 in the sixth. FGCU got two runners on base with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but was unable to bring them in to score, and fell 5-3.
"When you face a really good lineup, they're going to hit some mistakes, but I don't necessarily think we necessarily pitched mistakes," Fico said. "I think they just took advantage of putting a good swing on a good pitch."
Next, FGCU begins the FGCU Eagle Invitational against Hofstra at 11:15 a.m. on Friday, February 13 at the FGCU Softball Complex.
2026 softball season tickets, mini plans and single game tickets are on sale now at
https://fgcuathletics.evenue.net/list/SB.Â
For more information on FGCU Softball, follow @FGCUSoftball on Instagram, X (Twitter) and Facebook, and visit
fgcuathletics.com.
Postgame Notes
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Kiki Daniels hit her first home run of 2026
– Daniels now has a four-game hitting streak and has reached base safely in all five games this season
–
Olivia Black has a three game hitting & on-base streak
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Ally Thompson recorded her first hit of 2026
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Parris Wiggs hit an RBI double
– The FGCU pitching staff combined for seven strikeouts
– Six different Eagles recorded hits
– Kansas lead the all-time series 1-0
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