MIAMI (May 5, 2017) -- Reigning Conference USA Pitcher of the Week, FIU freshman Shannon Saile (Land O'Lakes, Florida / Land O'Lakes HS), tossed her fifth one-hitter of the season and shut out West-division-leading Louisiana Tech, 4-0, to start a Friday Conference USA softball doubleheader at Felsberg Field at FIU Softball Stadium.
 
FIU is now 41-12, winners of eight in a row at home, where they are 22-2. The Panthers are now 15-6 in Conference USA. The Lady Techsters fall to 33-19 overall, 16-6 in C-USA. FIU has to beat LA Tech twice more this weekend to overtake them for the two-seed and a double bye in the C-USA Championships next week.
 
The twinbill was delayed two hours due to storms in the area.
 
Senior Stephanie Texeira (Miami, Florida / Gulliver Prep) hit a two-run homer in the third, her team-leading 12^th of the season, to give FIU a 2-0 lead. She leads the Panthers with 46 RBI this season.
 
That was all Saile needed to toss her second-straight one-hit shutout to start a league series. She sent down 10-straight Lady Techsters at one point, striking out at least one hitter in each of the first five innings.
 
Freshman shortstop Jessica Rivera (Miami, Florida / Gulliver Prep) shot a two-RBI single up the middle in the sixth to complete the scoring for FIU.
 
Saile is 16-8 after the win. She walked three and struck out eight, allowing just the one hit, which came in the fourth inning. She has 203 strikeouts this season, third-most in a single season in team history. She is one behind second place and 37 from the program record. Saile is 6-0 in her last six starts, allowing 11 hits in her last 41.2 innings, striking out 50 batters in that span. She ties the school record with her eighth shutout and is the first FIU pitcher in six years, and the sixth in school history, to toss 20 complete games in a season.
 
The loss went to Preslee Gallaway, who is 14-12. She pitched all six innings, allowing one walk and eight hits, with seven strikeouts.
 
The win was the 100^th in the three-year head coaching career of Gator Rebhan, who has a mark of 100-63 at FIU.