FORT MYERS, Fla. (March 7, 2017) -- FIU softball scored in the first two innings and never looked back in a 6-2 victory over Ball State at the FGch Softball Complex Tuesday. The win improves FIU to 17-6, winners of three in a row, and seven of the last eight games. Ball State slips to 7-13 on the season.
After scoring a run on a wild pitch in the first inning,
Sammi Green (Marietta, Georgia) tripled to left to drive in a run in the second. The Panthers then collected back-to-back, two-out, bases-loaded RBI singles from seniors
Ashley Leon (Miami, Florida / Gulliver prep) and
Stephanie Texeira (Miami, Florida / Gulliver Prep) for the 4-0 lead.
FIU freshman pitcher
Shannon Saile (Land O'Lakes, Florida / Land O'Lakes HS) did not allow a hit through three innings and tied her career-high with 12 strikeouts.
The Panthers increased the lead to 6-0 after a two-out single from Leon, which was followed by Texeira's fifth home run of the year out to center field. She extended her career-record-total to 37 home runs after hitting her second of the day, with one in the 14-0 win over Holy Cross.
The only blemish on Saile's day was a two-run homer allowed to Rachel Houck with two outs in the seventh for the final scoring play of the contest.
The loss went to Alyssa Rothwell, who gave up four earned runs in five innings on seven hits, three walks and a hit batter. She struck out one Panther.
Saile allowed just four hits and three walks, hitting two batters in the complete-game effort her seventh of the season.
Leon had the game-high total of three hits, and Texeira led all players with three RBI. It marked Leon's ninth multi-hit game, and Texeira's fifth game with three RBI for the season.
FIU scored 20 runs in two games Tuesday and 57 runs in the last seven contests.
FIU will be back at Felsberg Field and FIU Stadium after 26 days away from home this Friday, hosting games against Rutgers and Fordham. The Rutgers contest starts at approximately 4:15 p.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/.
