MIAMI (March 20, 2015) – The FIU softball team (20-11, 3-3 C-USA) continues its home stand this weekend with an important three-game set with the North Texas Mean Green (11-14, 3-3 C-USA). First pitch on Saturday is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET from Felsberg Field at FIU Softball Stadium, while Sunday's series finale gets off at 1 p.m. ET.
 
Stay Connected
For those unable to attend this weekend's series, FIUsports.com will be streaming all games, pending weather, in addition to providing live stats for all three contests.
 
Stream: Click here
Livestats: Gametracker and StatBroadcast
Twitter: Click here
 
Last Time Out
FIU took a break from its conference slate to host UMass Lowell for a mid-week double header on Tuesday night. Sophomore Rachel Dwyer and junior Corinne Jenkins each tossed complete game victories for the Panthers, as the Panthers' pitch staff only allowed the River Hawks to score one run over the course of 13 innings of softball. Jenkins tossed her 10th career shutout, which moved the Sarasota, Fla., native up on the all-time shut-out list, as she's currently tied for fourth all-time.
 
Junior Aleima Lopez' bat continued to be hot for the Panthers, as the catcher drove in a game-high four runs in the first game alone. Senior Krystal Garcia broke her home run drought with a two-run bomb in a game where FIU went on to run rule UMass Lowell, 9-1, in six innings.
 
Pitchers continued to stay away from sophomore Stephanie Texeira, as she was walked a career-high four times and didn't register an official bat in the second of two games on Tuesday. In all, she finished the brief two-game series 2-for-3 with five walks and a triple.
 
Game Day Quick Hitters
FIU and North Texas meet for a three-game series in Miami for the second time in as many seasons. The Panthers had a memorable 2014 versus the Mean Green, as the squad swept a then second-ranked North Texas squad, capping off the weekend with a 10-3 run-rule victory in five innings.
 
FIU went back-to-back-to-back against the Mean Green during a 7-0 routing on April 26, as Stephanie Texeira, Gabby Spallone and Krystal Garcia all made round trippers in the third frame. The Panthers took North Texas deep five times in the game.
 
Tex. vs. the Nation
Stephanie Texeira finds herself in the nation's top 10 in three different categories, highlighted by her No. 4 ranking in on-base percentage (.667), which is first in Conference USA, in addition to having the 17th-best batting average in all of NCAA Div. I softball (.517), which is good for third in the league. She finds herself ranked seventh in walks, averaging just over one walk-per-game, the second most in her conference.
 
Walk This Way
With opposing pitchers unable to tame the bat of Texeira, the only solution as of late has been to walk the sophomore first baseman. In the month of March alone, she has been walked 22 times, with eight multi-walk games in 10 games. She was walked a career-high four times in as many plate appearances on March 17 versus UMass Lowell and only has 12 official at bats through 10 games this month. Five of those times pitchers have chosen to pitch to her, she's hit for extra bases (two doubles, one triple, two home runs) and has plated nine RBI.
 
Blank Space
With her complete-game shutout victory over UMass Lowell on March 17, Corinne Jenkins moved further up in the program's shutout list, as she now has 10 career shutout victories, which ties her for fourth all-time in Panther softball history.
 
Double Trouble
The Panthers have three of its hot bats in the league's top 10 for doubles this season, as Stephanie Texeira leads the league with 10, while Gabby Spallone and Ashley Belans are both tied for second with nine two-basers apiece.
 
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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/.