MIAMI (February 12, 2017) -- FIU freshman pitcher Shannon Saile (Land O'Lakes Florida / Land O'Lakes HS) tossed a two-hit shutout, striking out 11 hitters for her first collegiate victory as the Panthers turned away Georgetown 2-0 to finish the Felsberg Invitational in Miami Sunday afternoon.
 
The Panthers finished the weekend 5-1, winning their last four in the row. Georgetown ended the tournament 0-5. 
 
"I thought we pitched and played defense at a high level this weekend," said FIU Head Coach Gator Rebhan. "We have a lot of new players and we played a little tight at the plate, but we'll work on that this week in practice and get better. I am happy with a 5-1 start but we have places where we can improve."
 
FIU put the first run on the board in the third. Araceli Peralta (Miami, Florida / Gulliver Prep) led off the inning with a single up the middle, followed by the same from Brianna Bahadue (Miami, Florida / Gulliver Prep). After two outs, senior Stephanie Texeira (Miami, Florida / Gulliver Prep) singled to the left side to drive in Peralta for the 1-0 Panther lead. Texeira drove in all three runs in FIU's 3-2 win over Memphis earlier in the day, giving her all four RBI to that point.
 
The Panthers tacked on a run in the fifth after a leadoff double from Jackie Schoff (Bradenton, Florida / Lakewood Ranch). She moved to third on a sacrifice by senior second baseman Ashley Leon (Miami, Florida / Gulliver Prep) and scored on a single to right center by junior Kasandra Castle (Lake Worth, Florida / Palm Beach Central). Castle drove in the tournament-high of 12 runs in six games for the weekend.
 
Saile scattered the two hits and two walks, tying her strikeout total from her season debut on Friday. She has 22 punchouts against four walks in 14 innings pitched after one weekend of play. She is 1-1 on the season.
 
Georgetown starter Katie Vannicola took the loss (0-3). She tossed 3.1 innings, allowing just one earned run, with one walk, six hits and one strikeout.
 
The Panthers will head to the University of Florida Tournament next weekend, beginning with the game against Northwestern State on Friday at 11 a.m. FIU is schedule to play five games in Gainesville, finishing with No. 3/4 Florida on Sunday at 11:15 a.m.

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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/.