FORT MYERS, Fla. – Kiki Daniels delivered a go-ahead pinch hit triple in the bottom of the sixth inning to propel Florida Gulf Coast (18-29, 12-8 ASUN) past Queens (12-31, 4-16), 5-3 to take both games of Saturday's doubleheader.

Daniels stepped to the plate with the game tied 3-3 and one out in the bottom of the sixth. She drove the fifth pitch of the at-bat off the wall in center field to score Parris Wiggs and Olivia Black. Prior, Wiggs drew a four-pitch walk and Black singled through the right side on the first pitch she saw to put two runners on base for Daniels. Daniels was thrown out at home going for the inside-the-park home run, but the two runs she drove in were enough for FGCU.

Grace Taylor made quick work of the Royals after Daniels injected the momentum back into the Eagles dugout, and sealed the win. 

"Grace Taylor had a great day," head coach Lindsay Fico said. "We've got the Grace Taylor that we all know and love, and we know what she's capable of. Julia (Bacoulis) also did a very good job of starting and setting a tone in that second game and then they just kind of got to her, but we knew that we could go right back to Grace with the way that we were swinging it. I'm very, very proud they limited the free bases. Even though we made a couple of defensive mishaps, they didn't end up hurting us because we just moved on to the next play." 

The Eagles got out to an early lead when Wiggs drove in Nikki Gibson in the second inning with an RBI single. Mackenzie Leiti blasted her seventh home run of 2026 to dead center field to lead off the fourth inning. Later in the frame, Wiggs tallied another RBI single, this time scoring Sophie Wylie, to put FGCU up 3-0.

Bacoulis (8-13) earned the win for the Eagles. She cruised through the first four innings before Queens leveled the game at 3-3 in the fifth. Taylor entered in the sixth and earned the six-out save, her first of 2026.

In the first game of the doubleheader, Black's record-setting stolen base set the table for a walkoff single for K'Mari Williams.

Next, FGCU will aim for the series sweep on senior day at 1 p.m. on Sunday, April 26. Senior day ceremonies are scheduled to begin at 12:20 p.m.

2026 softball 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.

Postgame Notes
– FGCU is 5-0 against Queens in Fort Myers and is 9-2 against the Royals all-time
– Leiti hit her seventh home run of the season
– Black and Wiggs each had multi-hit games
– Wiggs and Daniels each had multi-RBI games
– The Eagles recorded four extra base hits
– Sietske Drijvers threw out her 15th runner stealing, and is now two runners caught stealing away from the single-season FGCU record
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