HATTIESBURG, Miss. (May 12, 2017) -- A pair of FIU freshmen made significant contributions as the Panthers outplayed No. 23 Marshall in a 4-1 win Friday to advance to the Conference USA Softball Championship game at Southern Miss Softball Stadium. FIU achieved two significant program marks - the Panthers reach their first C-USA title game and set the program record for wins after the Friday victory.
 
FIU is now 45-12 overall, winners of eight in a row, dropping the Thundering Herd to 41-9. After receiving the double bye by virtue of earning the two-seed in the tournament, FIU has defeated the West-division regular-season champion (LA Tech) and East-Division leader (Marshall) in consecutive days to get to the title game.
 
2017 C-USA Freshman of the Year Shannon Saile (Land O'Lakes, Florida / Land O'Lakes HS) struck out nine in the victory, tossing her school-record-tying 23^rd complete game of the season. She is now 19-8 on the year, two wins away from tying the record for FIU wins in a single season. Her nine punchouts were the most she has had in three starts against Marshall this season, pushing her season total to 227, which is 13 away from tying the school record for single-season strikeouts.

The game, originally scheduled to start at 1 p.m., was moved up two hours because of the weather forecast, but the rains beat the forecast and the game was then delayed nearly three-and-a-half hours to start at 3:31 p.m. Eastern.
 
The Panthers got a run in the first after two singles and a walk loaded the bases with no outs. After Marshall starter and 2017 Conference USA Pitcher of the Year Jordan Dixon struck the next two batters out, freshman Jessica Rivera (Miami, Florida / Gulliver Prep) drew a walk to force in the first run of the day. It was the 57^th first-inning run for the Panthers in their 57^th game of the season. FIU is 24-1 this season when scoring in the first inning.
 
"The girls stepped up and we got the hits when we needed to," said FIU Head Coach Gator Rebhan. "You've got Shannon Saile and Jordan Dixon pitching against each other, so you know it's going to be a low-scoring game. Jessie Rivera came in with a big hit at the end and that opened it up for us. Winning makes things a little easier, but it's still a long way from winning the conference championship. I'm going to let them celebrate for a few minutes then get back to being focused. It feels good to be ahead for right now."
 
Marshall tied the score with a run in the third. A walk and single off of Saile was followed by a fielder's choice, that did not result in an out, to load the bases. The first out of the inning was a sacrifice fly to left to tie the game, but the Panthers got a ground ball and turned a 3-2-4, bases-loaded double play to end the threat.
 
In the fifth, FIU took the lead again. Seniors Stephanie Texeira (Miami, Florida / Gulliver Prep) and Dani Mowry (Cocoa, Florida / Space Coast HS) hit back-to-back one-out doubles to get the run and a 2-1 lead. The double was Mowry's 10^th of the season, a career season high for her.
 
FIU added insurance runs in the seventh. Junior Araceli Peralta (????) skipped a one-out single through Dixon's legs and through the middle of the infield. Junior designated player Kasandra Castle (Lake Worth, Florida / Palm Beach Central) was hit by a pitch for the third time of the championships. That's when Rivera came through again for FIU, driving a double into left center to score two insurance runs and make things easier for Saile in the seventh. Rivera was 1-for-2 with two walks and three RBI for FIU in the game.
 
 
In four games this season against Marshall (FIU has a 3-1 mark in them), Rivera has walked seven times. Saile has started three times against the Herd, with an ERA of 1.00, with 21 strikeouts and an opponent batting average of .152 in 21 innings versus the league's regular-season champion. Saile is 9-0 with two saves in her last 11 appearances, all nine wins of the complete-game variety with three shutouts, holding opponents to a .113 batting average, adding 74 strikeouts in 63.2 innings.
 
FIU sophomore center fielder Jackie Schoff (Bradenton, Florida / Lakewood Ranch) had two more hits, as she did yesterday, to tie for the game-high lead. Schoff leads all players with a .533 batting average in the four games versus Marshall. Four different Panthers scored one run each.
 
FIU scored four earned runs against Dixon, dropping her record to 31-7. FIU is the second school to beat her twice in the season, joining No. 4 Florida State. She gave up all eight FIU hits and walked four, while striking out three in the complete-game effort.
 
The C-USA Softball Championship, with an opponent to be determined, will air at 1 p.m. Eastern on CBS Sports Network.

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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/.