FORT MYERS, Fla. – Florida Gulf Coast softball (15-25, 9-6 ASUN) wraps up a seven game road trip with its penultimate nonconference game of 2026 at No. 4/7 Florida (40-5, 14-4 SEC) at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 15.

Head coach Lindsay Fico will return to her alma mater for the first time at the helm of the Eagles' program. Fico made four trips to Gainesville while at Mercer, but is still looking for her first win against Tim Walton, her former head coach.

Florida leads the all-time series with FGCU 10-2, but both of the Eagles' wins in the series came in Gainesville. FGCU won the first game of the 2012 NCAA Tournament Gainesville Regional over No. 5 UF 2-1, and upset the No. 10 Gators 3-2 at the end of the 2022 regular season. The two wins in Gainesville are FGCU's only road ranked wins in program history. 

A win on Wednesday would be FGCU's highest ever ranked win and second top-five win, joining the 2012 regional win. The Eagles are 10-57 all-time against ranked opponents and 4-19 against SEC foes. FGCU's last ranked win was a 3-1 victory at home over No. 16 Florida State on March 8, 2024. 

The last time out, K'Mari Williams hit her first career home run for FGCU before the Eagles hung a seven spot in the fifth inning to take control of Sunday's series finale against West Georgia. The 13 runs scored tied the most runs FGCU has scored this season.

Willimas was one of five Eagles to record a multi-hit game on Sunday against the Wolves along with a career high four RBI. Wiggs went 3-for-4 with an RBI and run scored, and the trio of Ally Thompson, Black and Mackenzie Leiti all tallied a pair of hits. Black stole three bases to move to 96 career steals, and Wiggs had her second three hit game of the weekend. As a team, FGCU's six stolen bases was a single-game season high. 

The Eagles are led by Parris Wiggs, who is hitting .368 with 16 RBI. The Gainesville native has a .420 average with 21 hits and 11 RBI in ASUN play. J'Lyn Guyden joins Wiggs as players on the Eagles' roster from the Gainesville area. 

Sietske Drijvers is hitting .308 and has caught 12 runners stealing, which ranks 10th nationally and is the best mark in the ASUN. After stealing four bases in the West Georgia series, Olivia Black is two away from the FGCU Division I-era career record for stolen bases. 

Grace Taylor has a 4.48 ERA over 93.2 innings pitched, and Julia Bacoulis has racked up 61 strikeouts in the circle for FGCU.

No. 4/7 Florida enters at 40-5 overall and 14-4 in SEC play. The lone nonconference loss for the Gators came in a 15-12 shootout against No. 8/9 UCLA. UF has several ranked wins, including series wins over then-No. 1 Tennessee and No. 13/16 Mississippi State. Against ASUN opponents, the Gators have tallied wins over Jacksonville (20-0 and 11-1), North Florida (7-3 and 10-0) and Stetson (3-2). Other common opponents on the schedule include Kansas, USF and FIU; Florida went 4-0 against the Jayhawks, Bulls and Panthers.

Florida's high-powered offense is led by Taylor Shumaker and Jocelyn Erickson. Shumaker is hitting .467 with 67 runs scored, 70 hits, 13 homers and nine stolen bases. Erickson also hits over .400 at .442 with a 1.519 OPS as a result of 19 home runs and 13 doubles. Her .957 SLG and .562 OBP are both the best mark on the team. Keagan Rothrock has dominated in the circle for the Gators with a 2.43 ERA and 139 strikeouts in 141.0 innings pitched.

Shumaker's 70 hits lead the SEC and are the fourth most in the country. Her 67 runs scored rank second in the country, one behind UCLA's Rylee Slimp. Erickson's 19 long balls are sixth nationally and third in the SEC; her 66 RBI trail only Jordan Woolery and Kendall Wells. Rothrock's 139 strikeouts are the fourth most in the SEC and are the 20th most nationally.

2026 softball mini plans and single game tickets are on sale at https://fgcuathletics.evenue.net/list/SB. 

For more information on FGCU Softball, follow @FGCUSoftball on Instagram, X (Twitter) and Facebook, and visit fgcuathletics.com.