MIAMI (Feb. 24., 2016) -- FIU softball will play its first non-tournament opponent Thursday night at home when the Panthers are visited by Central Connecticut State, starting at 7 p.m. at Felsberg Field at the FIU Softball Stadium.
 
The teams are meeting in advance of the Felsberg Invitational, which will feature these two teams, as well as Delaware and Siena, this coming weekend.
 
The Panthers finished each of their first two tournaments with 4-1 marks, and won six in a row across the two weekends.
 
Junior Stephanie Texeira (Miami, Florida / Gulliver Prep) leads the team with four home runs and 29 total bases. Her 1.074 slugging percentage leads Conference USA, while her four homers ties her for first and her .481 batting average is fifth in the league. FIU junior shortstop A.J. Belans (Miami, Florida / Auburn University) leads FIU with 12 RBI, which ties her for fourth in the league in that category. She hit two home runs and drove in five Panthers in last Saturday night's 9-1 win over Holy Cross.
 
In the pitching circle, freshman Abby Summers (Weston, Missouri) leads the team with three wins and her 1.03 earned run average is fourth-best in conference. Five different Panther pitchers have a win, and Hunter Scharf (Lake Worth, Florida / Grandview Prep) is tied for the league lead with two saves.
 
Central Connecticut State is starting its 2016 this weekend. The Blue Devils earned a spot in the Athens, Georgia Regional last season, the program's second NCAA Tournament appearance in the past three seasons.
 
CCSU was picked to finish fourth by the Northeast Conference coaches, after taking out league-favorite LIU Brooklyn in the conference championship game last season.
 
Central returns 12 players from its 2015 NEC Championship team, including five seniors who were all consistent starters in the Blue Devils lineup, but lost a pair of All-Conference and CCSU standouts in Laura Messina and Kat Malcolm.

Seniors Katie Schmidt, Evie Rentzel and Eileen Purcell are the top upperclassmen returning for CCSU offensively. Schmidt was fourth on the team last season with a .272 batting average followed closely by Rentzel at .270. Rentzel also slugged .402 in 2015 with seven doubles and three homeruns, while driving in 20 RBI. Purcell was tied for second on the team with 26 RBI last year.

Youth consumes the Blue Devils 2016 roster with 14 underclassmen, including sophomore Tori Constantin who will look to be a force at the plate as she is CCSU's top returnee in batting average (.273), slugging percentage (.430) and home runs (5). 
 
FIU and CCSU will play twice more this weekend, Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 4 p.m.
 
The Felsberg Invitational starts at 11 a.m. Friday with Delaware and Siena. The Panthers first play against Siena at 4:30 Friday afternoon.
 
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/.