MIAMI (March 9, 2017) -- After nearly a month away from home, FIU softball returns to Felsberg Field at FIU Softball Stadium for four of five games, as part of the Florida Atlantic Parent's Weekend Tournament. The Panthers will host Rutgers and Fordham on campus Friday, then a doubleheader with Fairfield on Saturday, before heading up to Boca Raton to finish the weekend against LIU Brooklyn Sunday afternoon.
 
FIU enters this weekend at 17-6, winners of three-straight contests, and seven of the last eight. The Panthers have scored 57 runs combined over their last seven games. FIU is fresh off two wins on Tuesday on the FGCU campus, taking out Holy Cross in five innings, 14-0, before beating Ball State 6-2 in the second game.
 
Offensively, FIU has started strong, with the league's two RBI leaders. Senior Stephanie Texeira (Miami, Florida / Gulliver Prep) has 26 to lead all Conference USA student-athletes, while junior teammate Kasanrda Castle (Lake Worth, Florida / Palm Beach Central) is second with 25. Freshman Jessica Rivera (Miami, Florida / Gulliver Prep) sits sixth in that category with 19. Sophomore Jackie Schoff (Bradenton, Florida / Lakewood Ranch HS) leads all of C-USA in hits (35), runs scored (29) and is in a tie for first with Texeira with a .522 on-base percentage.
 
FIU has more hits, walks and runs than any other C-USA program to this point. The Panthers also lead the league in wins (17), fielding percentage (.978), pitching strikeouts (153) and are third in ERA (1.97). Texeira also leads C-USA with 18 walks. She is FIU's all-time leader in that category, as well as home runs. She hit one each in the two games Tuesday to get into a tie for the team lead at five. She has 37 for her career.
 
Fordham is receiving votes in several national polls. The Rams are 15-4 on the season after winning all of their games in the Homewood Suites Invitational, hosted by North Carolina State. Madison Shaw hit four homers, including two grand slams over the weekend, driving in 17 for the weekend. She leads the team with 24 RBI. Pitcher Lauren Quesne has started 11-1 on the season. She has 50 strikeouts in 68.2 innings pitched.
 
Rutgers has started 3-11 on the season and were scheduled to appear in the opening weekend tournament at FIU, but weather prevented the Scarlet Knights from traveling to Miami. The two teams did meet at the FGCU tournament two weeks ago, with FIU claiming a 9-5 win in Fort Myers. Rutgers collected two wins in its last three games, both over Lehigh, in the North Carolina State Tournament over the weekend, losing to Fordham twice in that tournament. Scarlet Knight Rebecca Hall batted .500 for the weekend, amassing a 1.125 slugging percentage over the weekend. Rutgers swept FIU in a doubleheader in Miami last year.
 
Fairfield is off to a 3-6 start, but won three of the four games at the Patriot Classic at George Mason last weekend. Amanda Ulzheimer leads the Stags with a .591 batting average, while Destinee Pallotto has two of the three pitching wins.
 
The LIU Brooklyn game takes place at FAU at 11:15 a.m. on Sunday. The Blackbirds won four of their five games at Stetson last weekend. Freshman Angie Rizzi was named Northeast Conference Co-Rookie of the Week after going 10-for-18 (.556) at the plate with seven RBI and eight runs in the strong weekend. LIU Brooklyn is 9-9 overall. Rizzi leads the team with a .417 batting average and 16 runs scored. Erynn Sobieski has five of the nine pitching victories.
 
The Panthers will return to host Fairfield Wednesday night in Miami before hosting North Texas next weekend to begin Conference USA play.

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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/.