MIAMI (May 6, 2016) -- FIU softball returns home for the final regular-season games of 2016 as the Panthers host Middle Tennessee in a three-game Conference USA weekend series. The weekend begins with a 4 p.m. Saturday doubleheader before the series finale on Sunday at noon.
 
Fans are advised that Saturday will be a very busy day on campus and need to adjust accordingly with regard to traffic and parking. A pair of Graduation ceremonies, at 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. are taking place on Saturday, with an FIU baseball game scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and a Miami FC game at 8 p.m. Softball fans may park in Lot 10 but also should follow the traffic plan of entering campus off of SW 117^th Avenue and 17^th Street and then making a left on SW 115th Avenue and proceed north into Lot 10.
 
The weekend also brings senior day, which will take place prior to the Sunday finale. The program will honor seniors Dominique Grossman (Miami, Florida / Gulliver Prep), Corinne Jenkins (Sarasota, Florida / Riverview HS) and Aleima Lopez (Deltona, Florida / Deltona HS) at approximately 11:50 a.m.
 
The Panthers have not played at home since April 10 against No. 24 Florida Atlantic. FIU went 5-6 on its 11-game road swing since that period. FIU is 26-26 overall, with a 9-12 Conference USA mark. The Panthers are fighting for one of the C-USA Championships spots and needs wins to keep their hopes alive for qualifying for the tournament.
 
The Blue Raiders sit at 23-28 overall, but are in last place in the East division with a 6-15 league mark.
 
FIU leads the all-time series 40-16, which includes wins in five of the last six meetings. FIU leads C-USA with 429 hits and is second in the league with a .315 team batting average. The Panthers are third in the league in slugging percentage (.447), on-base percentage (.385) and runs scored (248).
 
Last weekend against Marshall, junior Stephanie Texeira (Miami, Florida / Gulliver Prep) set a new personal best when she hit her 13^th home run of the season. She is now one homer away from tying the school's career mark of 33. Despite missing 15 games this season due to injury, she is tied for the league lead in home runs and is second with 41 runs batted in.
 
The Blue Raiders were swept at Charlotte last weekend. They are led offensively by Precious Birdsong, who sports a .335 batting average and 38 stolen bases on the year. Kelci Cheney is Middle's top pitcher, with a 14-14 record, a 3.72 earned run average and 95 strikeouts.
 
FIUSports.com will have live stats and PantherVision will live stream all three games of the series, including the senior day ceremonies before Sunday's finale.

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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/.