MIAMI (February 8, 2018) -- FIU softball begins the 2018 season with six home games, hosting the Felsberg Invitational, taking place on Felsberg Field at the FIU Softball Complex this weekend. Action begins at 9 a.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with the Panthers' first contest taking place at 1:30 p.m. Friday, hosting St. John's.
 
The Panthers are hosting East Carolina, Hofstra, the Johnnies and NCAA-Tournament participant South Carolina for the three-day event.
 
Following the St. John's contest, the Panthers will take on Hofstra at 6:30 p.m. Friday evening. Saturday, the Panthers take on St. John's again, at 3:45 p.m., and South Carolina at 6:30 p.m. The Panthers host Hofstra Sunday at 11:15 a.m. and East Carolina at 1:30 p.m. to finish the weekend.
 
The Panthers are coming off a school-record 46 wins, finishing fifth in the country with a .977 fielding percentage and 14^th-best 1.77 earned run average. The Panthers return the Conference USA Pitcher of the Year, sophomore Shannon Saile (Land O'Lakes, Florida / Land O'Lakes HS), who finished fifth in the nation by allowing 3.49 hits per nine innings, and 31^st in the country with a 1.51 ERA. She tied the school record for strikeouts in a season, with 240.
 
Offensively, team batting leader Jackie Schoff (Bradenton Florida / Lakewood Ranch HS) returns to centerfield in 2018 The rising junior collected 72 hits and finished with a .439 batting average, eighth-best in the country. The Panthers have last year's batting champion from three different schools on this year's roster. Schoff, along with transfers Tatyana Forbes (Coastal Carolina) and Natalie Orcutt (Appalachian State) all sat atop their team's batting average ledger a year ago.
 
ECU enters the 2018 campaign under the watch of third-year head coach Courtney Oliver who directed the team to a 26-30 overall record and 5-13 mark in the American Athletic Conference in 2017.
 
The Pirates return three of their top five hitters from a season ago in seniors Meredith Burroughs and Alex Mycek as well as redshirt sophomore Tate McClellan. Burroughs and Mycek hit 16 home runs apiece to lead the American Athletic Conference and rank 22nd nationally.

Hofstra returns all but one starter from a season ago, but that starter will be replaced by a very experienced redshirt-senior returning from her redshirt season. The Pride's roster features seven seniors. 

That redshirt senior is Michaela Transue, who led the team in batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage in 2016.
South Carolina's biggest task of the year will be replacing pitchers Nickie Blue and Jessica Elliott. The two combined for 26 of the team's 34 wins and 75 percent of all innings pitched last season. 

While pitching is the question mark, offense should be the strength. Carolina returns its top five hitters by batting average from 2017. As a team, Carolina outscored teams 264-209 last season.

The Red Storm Softball team is coming off of their fourth-straight BIG EAST title game with a 32-16 season.
 
During the 2017 season, the Red Storm finished the year with single-season program records in BIG EAST wins (17), runs scored (277), RBIs (251), while matching the 1990 squad for most overall victories with 32.
 
Tickets are on a per-day basis, and are available at the ticket table on-site and at FIUSports.com. Tickets are $10 for adults, $7 for youth. Fans should be aware of FIU's clear bag policy. More information can be found at FIUSports.com.
 
Live stats and live-streaming links are at the Felsberg Invitational page, located at FIUSports.com
 
For softball ticket information, contact the FIU Ticket Office at 305-FIU-GAME or log onto www.FIUSports.com.
 
Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Twitter (@FIUSoftball) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSoftball) for all the latest FIU softball news. Follow all of FIU's 18 athletic teams on Google+ (FIU Athletics), Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers), and Instagram (FIUathletics).

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