JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida Gulf Coast will begin the 2026 ASUN Championship against 8 seed Austin Peay at 2:30 on Tuesday, May 5.

The Eagles clinched the 5 seed in the ASUN Championship after a 14-10 mark in conference play. The Tuesday matchup will be single elimination, whittling the field to six, along with the 6-7 seed Eastern Kentucky-North Florida contest, before the double-elimination rounds begin on Wednesday.

The last time out, FGCU salvaged its weekend at Stetson with a 6-4 win in the regular season finale. Danae Falquez sparked a six-run fifth inning with her first career hit, and Olivia Black stole her 100th and 101st career bases.

Black leads FGCU with a .331 average, 50 hits and 18 stolen bases. Sietske Drijvers has thrown out 17 runners stealing, which ranks third in the country. In the circle, Julia Bacoulis has racked up 82 strikeouts, the sixth best mark in the ASUN, and she also holds a 3.30 ERA in conference play. 

Austin Peay enters at 30-23 overall, with nonconference wins over McNeese State, Ohio, Central Michigan and Western Michigan. The lone common opponent between FGCU and Austin Peay is West Georgia. The Governors beat the Wolves twice, 11-4 and 11-7, in a nonconference tournament the first week of the season.

APSU secured the No. 8 seed after a 12-12 ASUN record in the Gold Division. The Govs split the season series 3-3 with EKU, with each team winning the series at home. Austin Peay only took one game of six from North Alabama, and lost their lone series to overall 1 seed Central Arkansas in Conway. They won both series against Lipscomb, and swept Bellarmine.

The Govs have five players hitting over .300, led by Sammie Shelander at .379. Brie Howard is close behind, hitting .368 with 20 home runs. Katie Raper has launched 15 home runs and owns a .315 average, and Shelander also adds power with 14 long balls. The trio of Howard, Raper and Shelander are second, fourth and seventh in the ASUN in home runs, respectively. They also rank fourth (Howard, .758), seventh (Shelander, .714) and ninth (Raper, .701) in the conference in slugging percentage.

In the circle, Alanah Jones and Cameron Grayson have combined for nearly 75% of Austin Peay's innings pitched. Jones boasts a 2.87 ERA across 151.1 innings pitched, and has struck out 104 batters. She leads the ASUN and ranks 62nd nationally with 12 complete games; her 1.20 WHIP, 27 starts, 151.1 innings pitched and 16 wins all rank third in the ASUN.

ASUN all-conference and academic awards are expected to be released on Tuesday morning.

The full bracket can be found here and the ASUN Championship central is here.

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