KISSIMMEE, Fla. (March 4, 2017) -- With the game one out away from a fifth-straight victory for FIU, Notre Dame softball scored two runs in the seventh and two in the eighth to win 5-3 Saturday night to end day two of the Citrus Classic II at Disney's Wide World of Sports. The FIU loss halts a four-game winning streak but still leaves the Panthers 14-6 overall. Notre Dame is now 8-8.
 
FIU scored in its first at bat when sophomore outfielder Jackie Schoff (Bradenton, Florida / Lakewood Ranch HS) singled to start the inning. She came around to score when senior first baseman Stephanie Texeira (Miami, Florida / Gulliver Prep) doubled to left and the 1-0 lead. The RBI was the 19^th of the season for Texeira.
 
The Fighting Irish answered in the third when two singles and a double produced the tying run.
 
That 1-1 score held until the bottom of the sixth, when junior Kasandra Castle (Lake Worth, Florida / Palm Beach Central HS) doubled to start the inning. Michaela Mills (Hastings, Minnesota) came in to run for Castle and Brianna Bahadue (Miami, Florida / Gulliver Prep) singled to put runners at the corners with no outs. After a strikeout, Jocelin Soto reached on an error, which scored Mills from third and allowed Bahadue to get to third. Senior Sammi Green (Marietta, Georgia), who scored the game-winning run in the sixth inning in the 4-3 Win over Kansas earlier in the day, executed the squeeze with a bunt and an RBI for the 3-1 lead.
 
Notre Dame got a two-out, two-RBI double to right center to plate the tying run in the top of the seventh after a single and a fielder's choice put two runners on earlier in the frame.
 
Playing International tiebreaking rules, the Irish placed a runner at second to start the eighth. A sacrifice bunt, a walk and a strikeout had two runners in scoring position with two outs, but a ground ball led to a throwing error, which allowed both runs to score for the game's final margin.
 
The Panthers advanced their placed runner to third but failed to score in the extra frame.
 
FIU collected eight hits in the game, with two each from Texeira and Jocelin Soto (Oxnard, California).
 
Freshman hurler Shannon Saile (Land O'Lakes, Florida / Land O'Lakes HS) took the complete-game loss for FIU. Her record drops to 2-5 on the season in her longest career outing. Saile struck out a season-high 12 batters, her fourth time with 10-or-more strikeouts in eight appearances of four innings or more. Three of the five runs were earned on nine hits and three walks.
 
Notre Dame's Rachel Nasland got the win in relief (3-3). She pitched the last 5.2 innings, giving up two unearned runs on three hits and no walks. She struck out three.
 
The Panthers finish the weekend with a 12:15 p.m. contest versus Bryant.

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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/.