MIAMI (February 15, 2017) -- FIU junior transfer Kasandra Castle (Lake Worth, Florida / Palm Beach Central HS) was named the Conference USA Player of the Week by CollegeSportsMadness.com for her 12-RBI performance last weekend at the Felsberg Invitational in Miami.
 
In her Panthers debut, she had seven hits in 19 at bats, driving in a team-high 12 runs in six games for the weekend, helping the Panthers to a 5-1 mark to begin the season. In FIU's 12-4 win over Memphis on Saturday, she hit two home runs and a double and collected seven RBI, which is the team-high single game mark for the season. She only struck out one time and scored twice for the week, both during her home run trots. As a catcher and designated player, she batted .368 for the week, finishing with a .400 on-base percentage and .737 slugging percentage.
 
The Panthers head to Gainesville this weekend to play in the Aquafina Invitational. FIU will face Northwestern State, Florida A&M, Maryland and host Florida during the weekend. Florida moved into the top spot in both national polls this week.
 
The tournament kicks off for FIU against Northwestern State on Friday at 11 a.m. The Panthers play top-ranked Florida to end the weekend, on Sunday at 11:15 a.m.

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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports, and is a proud member of Conference USA. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and the FIU Football Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers more than 180 bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes $9.8 billion each year to the local economy. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded over 200,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has over 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.