MIAMI (March 19, 2017) -- Senior Stephanie Texeira (Miami, Florida / Gulliver Prep) hit an inside-the-park home run in the fourth inning for the only offense needed in a 1-0 victory Sunday to conclude a Conference USA series against North Texas at Felsberg Field at FIU Softball Stadium Sunday. FIU set a new school record by winning its 12^th-straight game to improve to 26-6 on the year, with a 3-0 C-USA start. NT is now 14-13 overall, 3-3 in C-USA.
 
Texeira took the first pitch of the fourth inning deep to right center when her ball got into the wind out to right and caromed off a fence post more than halfway back to second base, far enough for her to sprint around the bases and score before the relay back to home plate. The homer was her seventh of the season, to tie for the team lead, and program-record 38^th for her career.
 
"North Texas put the ball in play and our defense made the plays and our pitchers made the pitches they had to this weekend," said FIU Head Coach Gator Rebhan. "The difference from this year to last year is that we are making the plays at the ends of games now that we didn't before. We are getting that one run when we need to, like last night and today. All three phases are working great right now – pitching, hitting and defense."
 
FIU sophomore starting pitcher Abby Summers (Weston, Missouri) allowed just three hits and four walks in six innings of work to get the win and improve to 8-0 this season. She struck out five.
 
In the seventh, the Mean Green got the first two batters aboard with a walk and a bunt that was intended to be a sacrifice, but became a single to put the tying run into scoring position with nobody out. Summers was lifted for freshman Shannon Saile (Land O'Lakes, Florida / Land O'Lakes HS), who elicited an infield popup and got a grounder to third that became a double play to end the game.
 
North Texas stranded five on base, while the Panthers left seven on.
 
Saile got her second save of the season. In her last eight appearances, she has six wins and two saves for the Panthers.
 
FIU will host Jacksonville Thursday night at 6 p.m. before heading out on the road for a weekend C-USA series at Middle Tennessee next Saturday and Sunday.
 
WEEKEND NOTES: FIU sophomore center fielder Jackie Schoff (Bradenton, Florida / Lakewood Ranch HS) was 6-for-11 (.545) for the series, scoring three runs and stealing two bases. Texeira batted .500 for the weekend (3-for-6) and drew a team-high four walks… All three of her hits were for extra bases (two doubles and a home run) and she tied for the team lead with three runs scored and three RBI… Junior Araceli Peralta (Tucson, Arizona) also batted .500 (2-for-4) with three sacrifices and two runs scored… Panthers pitchers allowed just one earned run and nine hits in the three-game series… The Panthers collected 22 more strikeouts for the weekend and are the first C-USA school over 200 pitching strikeouts for the season (206)…. The Panthers batted .296 for the weekend, allowing the Mean Green a .136 batting average.

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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/.