MIAMI (Feb. 11, 2016) -- Friday begins the 2016 season and the FIU Panthers are hosting the Juiceblendz FIU Invitational, with five teams visiting Felsberg Field at FIU Softball Stadium for three-days of softball action. No. 10 Florida State, Illinois, LIU Brooklyn, St. John's and Valparaiso will join the Panthers for 15 games over three days, starting Friday, February 12. Each team will play the other five one time, with every team playing twice in the same day two times in the three-day window.
 
LIU takes on Illinois at 10 a.m. Friday to start the festivities and a five-game Friday concludes with FIU taking on the 10^th-ranked Seminoles with a start time of 7 p.m. LIU faces Valpo to start Saturday's action, starting at 9 a.m. FIU will play the last of the six games scheduled for that day, with a 5:30 game against St. John's, followed by a 7:30 tilt against Illinois.
 
Sunday's four-game slate starts with St. John's and Illinois, with FIU playing LIU Brooklyn at 1 p.m. and Valpo at 3 p.m. to finish the weekend.
 
Live stats are available at FIUSports.com at our Tournament Central page, with PantherVision Web streaming all five games involving the Panthers.
 
The Panthers return their top three hitters, including the majority of their power from the 2015 squad that was second in Conference USA in doubles and triples. First baseman and 2015 All-Conference performer Stephanie Texeira (Miami, Florida / Gulliver Prep) led the league in on-base percentage (.613) and walks (51), while turning in a school-record .444 batting average, good enough for third in the league in 2015. She was also second in slugging (.798) and third in RBI (51) in the league.
 
In the pitching circle, senior Corinne Jenkins (Sarasota, Florida / Riverview HS) recorded the majority of the decisions last season. An 18-game winner last year, Jenkins will lead a new pitching staff in 2016.
 
FIU posted a 20-10 record in non-conference, including a 10-7 mark away from home. When conference play started, the Panthers were 15-8. FIU did not have that level of success in C-USA, ending with a 10-14 league mark and out of the Championships. The overall mark was 30-24.
 
Florida State starts the year with the number-10 ranking after finishing 2015 with a record of 49-14 and winning the championship of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Redshirt junior Jessica Burroughs returns as the ace of the pitching staff after posting a 19-6 record with a 2.08 ERA last season. At the plate, sophomore Jessica Warren looks to build on her 19 HR, 57 RBI season that earned her 2015 ACC Freshman of the Year honors. Lonni Alameda is entering her eighth season as the head coach of the Seminoles, earning a record of 315-120 at FSU with three consecutive ACC Coach of the Year awards.
 
Illinois returns 18 letterwinners, including seven of nine starters from a 26-27 squad from 2015. New head coach Tyra Perry won Coach of the Year Honors at her last two head coaching stops, Ball State and WKU, and arrives in Champaign after a 15-year coaching career after playing at LSU in the late 90's. The top four hitters from last year's team all return, led by Allie Bauch and her .399 batting average. She led the team with 71 hits, 18 doubles, 29 walks and 47 runs scored, and finished second with 12 home runs. 19-game winner junior Jade Vecvanags also returns to the pitching staff, giving the Illini a talented and experienced bunch to attack 2016.
 
LIU returns seven starters and 12 letterwinners from last season's team that went 23-30 and advanced to the championship round of the Northeast Conference Tournament before falling to Central Connecticut. Senior Whitney West leads the returning offensive players for LIU Brooklyn. A three-year starter and two-time All-NEC Second Team selection, West hit a team-high .348 last season and stole 13 bases. The speedy outfielder finished the season with a flourish, going 8-for-13 in the NEC Tournament to give her 171 hits in her career. Last season's NEC Rookie of the Year and Second Team All-NEC catcher Victoria Zamora is another returning starter for the Blackbirds. Zamora hit six of LIU's 43 home runs, with the team total tying the program and conference record for home runs in a season (2006). The Orange, Calif. product hit .415 in conference play and registered a .556 on-base percentage against league foes.
 
The St. John's softball team was unanimously selected to repeat as the 2016 BIG EAST softball champion after claiming the program's first conference regular season and tournament titles a year ago with a 28-19, 16-2 BIG EAST record, which vaulted the program to its first NCAA appearance. Head coach Amy Kvilhaug enters her 10th season leading the Red Storm. In addition to bringing back the reigning BIG EAST Pitcher of the Year in Tori Free (7-1, 0.90 ERA), the Johnnies return all but one starter, including five position players that earned All-BIG EAST honors. First-team selections Brittany Garcia, Krystal Puga and Lauren Zick and second team recipients Yvonne Rericha and Monique Landini highlight a lineup that helped St. John's set single-season program-records in batting average (.317), runs (243), RBI (224) and walks (152).
 
Under second-year head coach Kate Stake, Valparaiso enters the 2016 season picked to finish fourth in the Horizon League after finishing tied for fourth in Stake's first season in 2015. A veteran group returns for Stake, as the Crusaders lose just two players from last year's team while returning 15 letterwinners. Leading the way for Valpo - which averaged nearly five runs/game last year and set a team single-season program record for on-base percentage - is senior outfielder Kaitlyn Ranieri, a two-time First Team All-League honoree who hit .407 with 41 runs scored and 39 RBIs last year while also drawing a program-record 40 walks.
 
Check out the Juiceblendz FIU Invitational Tournament Central Page at FIUSports.com for updates throughout the weekend.
 
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/.