MIAMI (April 15, 2017) -- Freshman Shannon Saile (Land O'Lakes, Florida / Land O'Lakes HS) held the top-hitting team in Conference USA to two hits Saturday as FIU softball secured a series win over Marshall with a 3-1 weekend finale at Felsberg Field at FIU Softball Stadium. The Panthers are the first team to hand Marshall back-to-back losses in 2017.
 
FIU is now 34-11 on the season, 10-5 in Conference USA. The Thundering Herd drop their first league series and fall to 33-7, 15-3 in C-USA.
 
"We finally won the close game," said FIU Head Coach Gator Rebhan. "We had won those early in the season, then got into some bad habits recently and lost some of them. It was nice to see us push through there. Both teams played very hard this weekend. We just were able to capitalize on more mistakes than Marshall was in the series."
 
All runs in the game were unearned, as the Panthers were able to capitalize on two errors, two walks and a hit batter in the fifth inning with no ball leaving the infield in the frame for all three runs. FIU had one infield hit in that inning. One hit batter and walk occurred with the bases loaded.
 
FIU came back from a 1-0 deficit after the Herd produced a run in the fourth on a double, stolen base and throwing error.
 
Marshall stranded six runners. FIU left eight on base in the game.
 
Saile allowed one hit through six innings, until an error put the leadoff batter on in the seventh, and a single up the middle put two runners on with nobody out. A fielder's choice and the fourth walk allowed by Saile loaded the bases with one out, but she induced a popout after first baseman Stephanie Texeira made a diving grab in foul territory. Saile's fifth strikeout of the game ended the contest.
 
With her five strikeouts, Saile moved into the top 10 in program history in a single season with 158, tied for 10^th. The complete game was her 15^th of the year. The run against her was not earned, lowering her season ERA to 1.87. FIU leads Conference USA with a 1.86 staff ERA.
 
Marshall starting pitcher Jordan Dixon, who came in leading the league in wins and strikeouts, fell to 24-5 on the season. She struck out four and walked six, also hitting two batters. She allowed just three hits.
 
As she did in both games of the doubleheader on Friday, sophomore Jackie Schoff (Bradenton, Florida / Lakewood Ranch HS) recorded two hits, the only player with six hits for the weekend. She batted a team-best .545 for the series, scoring two runs. Six different players on the two teams had two RBI each, but Texeira was the only player on either team to score three times in the series. She was walked three times, twice intentionally.
 
FIU outhit the Herd .246 to .239 for the weekend, outscoring them 12-7 in the three games. Marshall came into the weekend with the league's top batting average of .325, dropping it to .319 after the weekend.
 
FIU will host FGCU for a Wednesday doubleheader, starting at 5 p.m. to conclude the brief home stand.
 

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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including Lime Court at FIU Arena and at Riccardo Silva Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is classified by Carnegie as a "R1: Doctoral Universities - Highest Research Activity" and recognized as a Carnegie Community Engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as business, engineering, computer science, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes almost $9 billion each year to the local economy and is ranked second in Florida in Forbes Magazine's "America's Best Employers" list. FIU graduates are consistently among the highest paid college graduates in Florida and are among the leaders of public and private organizations throughout South Florida. 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 with multiple state-of-the-art research facilities including the Wall of Wind Research and Testing Facility, FIU's Medina Aquarius Program and the Advanced Materials Engineering Research Institute.  FIU has awarded more than 220,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, the Miami Beach Urban Studios, and Tianjin, China. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and more than 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.