MIAMI (April 28, 2017) -- The FIU softball squad plays the last of its two regular season weekend series at home, with a three-game Conference USA series starting Saturday against WKU. The Saturday doubleheader, at Felsberg Field at FIU Softball Stadium, begins at 4 p.m. Sunday's series finale starts at 1 p.m.
 
The Panthers are the only C-USA school with two league weekend series at home to finish the season. FIU is 37-12 overall, 11-6 in league. The Panthers currently possess the second-best win percentage in the league, both overall and in C-USA. FIU split with Charlotte on the road last weekend, with the Sunday finale rained out.
 
FIU is sixth in the conference with a .290 team batting average, but second with a .388 on-base percentage, 251 runs and 202 RBI. No team in C-USA has more wins, a lower ERA (1.92) and opponent batting average (.208), more strikeouts (290) or a higher defensive fielding percentage (.975) than the Panthers this season. The Panthers are also tied for the league lead with 18 runners caught stealing by the defense.
 
Offensively, sophomore Jackie Schoff (Bradenton, Florida / Lakewood Ranch HS) is tied for the league lead with 45 runs scored, while second with a .460 batting average and third with a .531 on-base percentage. Senior slugger Stephanie Texeira (Miami, Florida / Gulliver Prep) leads the league with 41 walks, while second in on-base percentage (.536), third in RBI (40), and fifth in slugging percentage (.674) and runs scored (43).
 
FIU has only lost one game at home, still coming in a series win over first-place Marshall in mid-April. The Panthers and Lady Hilltoppers have met 56 times in the Sun Belt and Conference USA, with the Panthers holding a slight 30-26 edge in the series, WKU is 14-13 against FIU in Miami. The teams have split the last four meetings, with the Lady Tops winning twice in a three-game series in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The Panthers won the last of those three in the sleet, 16-7 in five innings to beat the weather out of town on Sunday, March 20.
 
The Tops are 26-23 overall, 10-10 in league games. This is the last conference weekend for WKU. The Lady Tops are next to last in batting average and seventh in ERA, but the offensive production tells another story. WKU has won its last three weekend series, with one game of each series scoring more than 10 runs, at UTEP, home to Charlotte and home to Southern Miss.
 
Designated player Jordan Mauch is the bat to avoid in the lineup. The junior is third in the league with 12 home runs, sixth in slugging (.634) and sixth in walks. WKU pitcher Kathryn Downing is also in the top 10 in C-USA in ERA (2.07), opponent batting average (.244) and strikeouts (84).
 
During the weekend series, fans should be aware of extra parking and traffic issues on campus.  The first two commencement ceremonies will take place on Saturday, with another one on Sunday, which impacts the normal softball traffic flow and parking. Fans planning to attend the softball games are asked to enter through the University entrance at the corner of 117^th Avenue and 17^th Street to avoid commencement traffic. Once inside that entrance, proceed to stop sign at the baseball stadium and take a left onto 115^th. Parking is on either side on 115^th (in the SAAC parking lot or by the soccer stadium) as you approach the stop sign to 11^th Street. If those lots are full, do not proceed through that stop sign, but turn around and park across from the baseball stadium on 17^th street, which has plenty of space.
 
Live stats and video links are posted at FIUSports.com for coverage of the weekend series.
FIU will host LA Tech to complete the regular season on the first weekend in May before the Conference USA Championships.

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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/.