LOUISVILLE, Ky. (May 18, 2017) -- For the second time in her career, FIU senior first baseman Stephanie Texeira (Miami, Florida / Gulliver Prep) has been named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-South Region First Team, the organization announced today. The Panthers landed multiple players on the all-region team for the second time in program history, as sophomore Jackie Schoff (Bradenton, Florida / Lakewood Ranch HS) was named to the All-South Region Second Team.
 
A First-Team All-Conference USA infielder, Texeira is the first FIU Panther ever to earn all-region twice, after landing on the first team following her 2014 freshman campaign. The Miami native led Conference USA with eight homers in league games only, and set a new personal record with 15 home runs for the season, tied for second-most in C-USA. FIU's first of two C-USA Freshmen of the Year (2014), Texeira is only one of two players in the country currently with at least 50 runs, 50 RBI and 50 walks entering the NCAA Postseason. She led Conference USA with 52 RBI, a .548 on-base percentage and 50 walks, while fourth with 51 runs scored. She is the Conference USA all-time RBI leader (190) and is FIU's career leader in batting average (.410), slugging (.768), on-base (.548), runs (159), home runs (47), walks (147) and putouts (1,161). At last week's Conference USA Championships, Texeira had a home run, two doubles and a popout before being walked the rest of the week, drawing six walks for the tournament in three games, including all three plate appearances against LA Tech in the championship game. She was named to the all-tournament team for her .750 batting average, .900 on-base mark and 2.000 slugging percentage during the championships. She hit four home runs in the last six games of the season and is red hot heading into her first NCAA Postseason this weekend.

"Tex has been consistent for four years here," said FIU Head Coach Gator Rebhan. "Since her freshman year, she has been phenomenal. It's great to see her go out and get recognized as an All-Region player in this last season, but she's played at that level her entire time here."

Schoff makes her first appearance on the all-region team after she became the first outfielder at FIU to earn First-Team All-C-USA honors last week. Schoff led C-USA with 1.08 runs-per-game, 13^th-best in the country and is only one of 20 players, nationally, to score more than one run per game played. She led FIU with a .442 batting average, third-best in C-USA and 11^th-best in the NCAA. Schoff is fourth in the league with a .509 on-base percentage, 39^th-highest in the country. She also finished fifth in hits (68) and sixth in stolen bases per game (0.50), both ranking in the 50s, nationally. She missed 10 games this season due to injury, but after scoring two runs in the C-USA Championships, passed Desiree Fink for the school record for runs in a season, at 52. She is just two points behind Texeira's FIU single-season record for batting average (.444) set in 2015.

"When Jackie is not in the lineup, we lose a lot," added Rebhan. "When she is on base, teams have to pitch to Tex, so they both make each other better. She also makes plays defensively, diving for balls and the amount of effort she puts in out there. Both Jackie and Tex are phenomenal defensive players. These are well-deserved honors for them."

Texeira and Schoff will lead FIU to its third NCAA Regional appearance in program history, with an opening game against Oklahoma State on Friday at noon in Gainesville, Florida. The game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
                         
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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in eight different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including Lime Court at FIU Arena and Riccardo Silva Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is classified by Carnegie as a "R1: Doctoral Universities - Highest Research Activity" and recognized as a Carnegie Community Engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as business, engineering, computer science, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes almost $9 billion each year to the local economy and is ranked second in Florida in Forbes Magazine's "America's Best Employers" list. FIU graduates are consistently among the highest paid college graduates in Florida and are among the leaders of public and private organizations throughout South Florida. 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 with multiple state-of-the-art research facilities including the Wall of Wind Research and Testing Facility, FIU's Medina Aquarius Program and the Advanced Materials Engineering Research Institute.  FIU has awarded more than 220,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, the Miami Beach Urban Studios, and Tianjin, China. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and more than 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.