GAINESVILLE, Fla. — FIU's softball program continued its hot start to the 2026 season, defeating Georgia Tech 6-4 in its opener to highlight its second day at the Florida Classic, hosted by the University of Florida.
The Panthers (8-2) opened the day with a wire-to-wire 6-4 win over the Yellow Jackets, their fourth win over an Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) foe this season. At that point, FIU was 4-0 against Power Conference programs, the first time in program history that the Panthers have won their first four games against P4 opponents. Additionally, FIU's 8-2 start is the best start for the program since 2017.
In the Panthers' second game of the day, FIU led early on against fifth-ranked Florida, but eventually fell 14-6 to the host-Gators in six innings.
Georgia Tech
FIU continued its momentum after defeating Georgia Tech 6-5 on Friday, plating three runs in the first two innings to stake Brooke McNichols to a 3-0 lead. Kally Meredith tripled to lead off the game, which was followed by an RBI double from Zamya McBurrows to put FIU up 1-0. Leah Clark's sacrifice fly scored McBurrows to finish off the Panthers' two-run first inning.
Meredith was back at it in the second, delivering an RBI single to score Isabella Perez for a 3-0 lead. Georgia Tech mustered two runs of offense in the second, pulling within one, down 3-2 after two.
McNichols turned it on from there, however, keeping the Yellow Jackets scoreless for the next four innings. FIU provided some needed insurance runs in the seventh as Clark's perfect bunt scored McBurrows to take a 4-2 lead. Janelle Martinez tacked on two more with a sacrifice fly to score pinch runner Jordyn Kinn, which produced an errant throw, scoring Clark.
Ahead 6-2, McNichols (2-0) got into some trouble in the seventh, giving way to Meagan Villazon (S,1) to finish it off. The Doral Academy prep struck out one and got the final three outs for FIU to close out a one-sided ACC win for the Panthers.
In total, McNichols went 6.0 innings, surrendering just two earned runs on 79 pitches. At the plate, FIU had five players with two hits each. Meredith, McBurrows, Clark, Paige Miller and Kendall Catherwood knocked out two hits apiece, accounting for FIU's 10 hits in the game.
Florida
Saturday's afternoon matchup featured FIU facing off with the fifth-ranked Gators. The Panthers started off fast with two first inning runs after Martinez singled in Meredith and McBurrows. J'dah Girigorie (2-1) took to the circle for FIU with a two-run lead, but a hot Florida offense scored four in the first inning to take a 4-2 lead.
Offensively, the Panthers responded with a three-run second to take their second lead of the game. Meredith and McBurrows each produced RBI singles before a gator error allowed McBurrows to score for FIU's third run of the frame. In the bottom half, a two-run homer from Florida put the Gators back up 6-5 after two. The back-and-forth affair continued in the top of the third as Perez singled in Martinez to tie the game at 6-all.
Florida then answered again, using back-to-back homers to take a 9-6 advantage after three innings. From that point, the FIU bats were unable to get much more going while the Gators tacked on five more runs as the game progressed. A Florida sacrifice fly in the sixth gave the Gators an eight-run advantage, ending the game via mercy rule.
Meredith, McBurrows, Martinez and Perez each had three hits to lead the Panther offensive effort.
UP NEXT
FIU wraps up its weekend in Gainesville on Sunday, Feb. 15, taking on Marshall at 9 a.m.
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