MIAMI (March 15, 2017) -- Redshirt senior Dani Mowry (Cocoa, Florida / Space Coast HS) drove in four runs to tie her career high and the FIU softball team won its ninth-straight game by a final of 10-3 Wednesday night over Fairfield at Felsberg Field at FIU Softball Stadium in non-conference action. The win pushes the Panthers record to a program-best 23-6, while the Stags fall to 4-12 this season. FIU was list in the "Others Receiving Votes" category in this week's USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll this week.
 
The Stags produced two home runs in the first, scoring all three of their runs, ending the day of starting pitcher Abby Summers (Weston, Missouri) early.
 
The Panthers picked up their starter with a three-run homer by Mowry on a 3-2 pitch with one out in the bottom of the first. It was her second of the year. Both teams had two hits with their three runs in the first inning.
 
FIU was able to get its first lead of the game in the bottom of the second with five more runs. The Panthers got a single and then two, two-out hit batters to load the bags. Fairfield then walked the next two batters to force in a pair of runs before freshman Jocelin Soto (Oxnard, California) singled in two more with a hit to center. With runners at the corners, one runner got caught in a rundown while Sammi Green (Marietta, Georgia) scored from third before the final out was recorded.
 
The final two runs came across for the Panthers in the fourth for the seven-run margin. Green drove in another run with a single to right and catcher Julia Gilbert (Rialto, California) added the tenth run with a sacrifice fly to deep center.

Soto set a career high and tied the team's season-high total with four hits in the contest. She has a career-long three-game hit streak.
 
Sophomore Megan Kugelmann (Merritt Island, Florida / Cocoa Beach HS) relieved Summers in the first and settled down the Stags, limiting Fairfield to just four more hits and a walk in the next 3.1 innings for the win. She got the win to improve to 9-1.
 
Freshman Shannon Saile (Land O'Lakes, Florida / Land O'Lakes HS) got the three-inning save. She allowed two hits and struck out a batter, to push her season total to 106, the most for a Panthers pitcher in a season since 2012.
 
The loss went to Danielle Tringali, who falls to 0-2. She gave up eight runs on four hits and four walks in two innings. She struck out one hitter.
 
FIU will begin Conference USA action this weekend with a doubleheader Saturday at 4 p.m. and single game Sunday at noon versus North Texas. Live links can be found at FIUSports.com for the weekend action.

#######
 
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/.