MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (March 25, 2017) -- For the second time in two days, FIU freshman pitcher Shannon Saile (Land O'Lakes, Florida / Land O'Lakes HS) threw a three-hit shutout as FIU softball secured its 16^th-straight victory in a 3-0 final to sweep a Conference USA weekend series at Middle Tennessee Saturday.
 
Saile improved her season record to 10-5, scattering the three hits and four walks over the entire seven innings, with six strikeouts. Her 131 season strikeouts moved her up two spots to the 15^th-most in a season in school history and her fifth season shutout ties her for seventh in a single season, three behind the school-record total of eight.
 
Saile has not allowed an earned run in her last 32.1 innings, over parts of eight games (three of those in relief appearances) and lowered her earned run average to a team-best 1.57 after 102.2 innings pitched in 2017. She had 14 strikeouts in 14 innings in her two wins over MT. She now has 131 season strikeouts, most on the squad, third-most in C-USA and up to 15^th for a single season in FIU program history.
 
"Our bats have been working at the right time for us," said Saile after the weekend. "As a pitching staff, we are buckling down and getting key strikeouts and key plays in the field. The jams I got into this weekend were a great learning experience. Middle Tennessee knew how to swing the bat. I just tried to stay calm and get key outs and control the controllables. I knew my team had my back both on defense and on offense."
 
The game was scoreless until the Panthers got their three runs all in the sixth inning. FIU got the bases loaded without an out in the frame after two singles and a walk. A pair of fielder's choices made things look like Middle Tennessee was going to escape until junior Kasandra Castle (Lake Worth, Florida / Palm Beach Central) singled in two runs with the bases loaded to piece the scoreboard for the first time. Castle leads the team with four hits with bases loaded and a team-leading 12 RBI with the sacks full of Panthers. Her 35 RBI leads the team and conference.
 
Later in the inning, Castle and redshirt senior outfielder Dani Mowry (Cocoa, Florida / Space Coast HS) successfully pulled off a double steal of second and home for the game's final run.
 
One of the runners coming in on Castle's single was senior Stephanie Texeira, who homered in game one of the doubleheader.
 
"Being on a roll like this feels amazing," noted Texeira. "The difference between close wins this season (10-4 in games of one or two runs) and the close losses last year (8-15 in same situation) is that now, there is this gut feeling that the job is going to be done. Regardless of the score or inning, our faith in our teammates is limitless. This team will not go down without a fight."
 
FIU is 24-1 when holding the opponent to two runs or less.
 
Saile stranded eight Blue Raiders on base, including a bases-loaded situation in the second inning. Opponents have a .157 batting average against her this season.
 
After the weekend, FIU lowered its league-leading ERA to 1.60, almost a third of a run better than the next pitching staff.
 
FIU will continue with two more road weekends before returning home on April 14. Next weekend, the Panthers travel up to Boca Raton for a road series at arch rival Florida Atlantic. The Saturday, April Fools' Day, doubleheader starts at 4 p.m.
 
NOTES: The Panthers nearly doubled the Blue Raiders batting average (.284 to .147) for the three-game sweep... Texeira scored twice, with six different Panthers scoring the other runs for the weekend… Panthers pitchers allowed just 10 hits in 21 innings versus MT… Including the 3-1 win over Jacksonville on Thursday, the Panthers pitching ERA for the week was 0.50, holding opponents to a .154 batting average in 28 innings… FIU added 28 strikeouts in 28 innings to improve their league lead to 234 season strikeouts.
 

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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/.