MIAMI — The FIU softball team (27-13, 9-6) is back at the friendly confines of Felsberg Field this weekend, opening up a three-game series against Louisiana Tech (24-16, 10-5) on Friday at 6 p.m.
Each game of the series, which will be a battle of the second and third-place teams in the Conference USA standings, will be aired on ESPN+ with live stats also available for the entire weekend.
With four weekends remaining in the regular season, the Panthers will be looking to rebound from a series loss at Sam Houston last weekend and gain momentum heading into postseason play.
Paige Miller, who had a nine-game hitting streak snapped in the series finale against Sam Houston, has recorded multi-hit games in six of her past 10 contests.
Kally Meredith, who has hits in eight of her past nine games, added two more stolen bases to her season tally last weekend, which gives her 36 on the campaign. The speedster remains third in the nation in swipes, one ahead of Jackson State's Ka'Liyah Gipson and Fordham's Neleh Nogay.
Alabama's Audrey Vandagriff (45) and Oregon's Kai Luschar (42) rank 1-2 nationally in stolen bases.
Kennedy Byrd, who ranks 37th in the nation in innings pitched, has also produced at the plate with hits in four straight, five of the past six and nine of her past 11 games.
Bailey Grossenbacher has recorded at least one hit in four of her past six games, including a pair of multi-hit contests.
FIU NATIONAL LEADERS (TOP 60)
Team
Stolen bases - 8th, 105 (1st in CUSA)
Stolen bases per game – 9th, 2.63 (1st in CUSA)
W/L percentage – 52nd, .675 (2nd in CUSA)
Total hits – 56th, 322 (3rd in CUSA)
Fielding percentage – 60th, .969 (3rd in CUSA)
Kennedy Byrd
Innings pitched – 37th, 119.0 (2nd in CUSA)
Complete games – 32nd, 11 (1st in CUSA)
Shutouts – 44th, 3 (3rd in CUSA)
Kally Meredith
Total stolen bases - 3rd, 36 (1st in CUSA)
Stolen base percentage – 3rd, .973 (1st in CUSA)
Stolen bases per game - 6th, 0.90 (1st in CUSA)
Total hits – 43rd, 52 (2nd in CUSA)
OPPONENT OUTLOOK
Louisiana Tech (10-5 CUSA) will be tough competition for FIU (9-6 CUSA) as the Bulldogs sit in second place in the CUSA standings behind Liberty (13-1 CUSA)
Claire Raley recently became the third Bulldog to reach the 40+ hit club this season after recording two in Louisiana Tech's win over ULL on Tuesday. Raley and Nicole Hammoud are tied for second on the team with 41 hits apiece, while Elena Heng leads all of them with 47.
Heng paces Louisiana Tech with 33 runs, while Raley sits one run behind her.
Allie Floyd leads the pitching staff with a 17-8 record, and she leads all conference players in wins, strikeouts (142) and innings pitched (145.0).
UP NEXT
After this weekend, FIU will conclude the regular season with road matchups at UTEP next weekend and Liberty May 2-4, sandwiched around a home series against Western Kentucky April 25-27.
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