HATTIESBURG, Miss. (May 13, 2017) -- FIU Softball got into its first Conference USA Tournament Championship, but lost 1-0 to Louisiana Tech Saturday afternoon at Southern Miss Softball Stadium. The loss ended an eight-game win streak and was the first time in program history losing to LA Tech in 10 games.
 
FIU is now 45-13, and will wait to find out if they can land the program's third at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament. The selection show is Sunday night at 10 p.m. Eastern on ESPN2.
 
The two teams got locked into a battle of pitching and defense, with no hits in the first two innings and just six hits in the entire contest. The game was rife with diving catches and excellent defensive pays throughout. The lone run came in the seventh on a solo homer by Lady Techsters first baseman Pauline Tufi with one out in the top of the seventh.
 
It was the only mistake FIU starting pitcher Shannon Saile (Land O'Lakes, Florida / Land O'Lakes) made in the contest. She held LA Tech to just four hits and two walks, while striking out seven in the contest. It was her first loss in her last 11 appearances and her record falls to 19-9.

Senior slugger Stephanie Texeira (Miami, Florida / Gulliver Prep), who had torched LA Tech with four home runs in the four previous meetings over the last eight days, including on Thursday in the C-USA Tournament, was reduced to a baserunner, as she was walked in all three plate appearances. She was walked six times in 10 total plate appearances at the championships, because she hit a homer and two doubles in her four actual at bats for the week. She finished her final conference championship with a 2.000 slugging percentage and .900 on-base mark.

Texeira and Saile, along with sophomore outfielder Jackie Schoff (Bradenton, Florida / Lakewood Ranch HS), were named to the 2017 Conference USA All-Tournament Team. 

FIU is now 0-3 in conference tournament championship games, after reaching two as a member of the Sun Belt Conference.
 
The 45 wins and .776 winning percentage are program softball records.

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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/.