After a successful home tournament start, the Florida Gulf Coast University softball team went 1-4 in Florida International University’s Classic in Miami last weekend to leave them with a 6-4-1 record.
The Eagles began their tournament with a shutout win over the University of Wisconsin Friday afternoon. The Eagles tallied eight runs Friday afternoon, including two home runs from sophomore Louie Ross and one from senior Jessica Barnes. In the Eagles’ first game against Wisconsin, FGCU pitcher Amanda Josie allowed only three hits through all six innings, struck out three and did not allow any walks.
Later that day, the Eagles were unable to hold on to their win streak against tournament host FIU. The Eagles fell to the Panthers 7-4. Junior Kelsey Carpenter and Ross produced FGCU’s only four runs against the Panthers with 3 RBI from Carpenter and one from Ross.
Saturday, FGCU dropped two games against Georgia Southern University, falling 6-2 in the first game and 9-1 in the second. In FGCU’s first game against GSU, Carpenter recorded her third home run of the season and produced FGCU’s only two runs batted in from the day. Mackenzie McAvoy led the team with a high of two hits in five at-bats.

Although they were able to shut out the Wisconsin Badgers earlier in the tournament, the Eagles were unable to defeat the Badgers in their final game of the tournament and fell 9-1. Yet again, Carpenter led the Eagles on offense, recording two hits in her three at bats. Ross produced FGCU’s only run batted in of the day with a single that brought in Carpenter from third base.
“We fell behind early again like we did against Georgia Southern,” said FGCU softball head coach David Deiros. “Most of it was because of what Wisconsin was able to accomplish with their game plan and part of it was because we were unable to respond very well in any of our facets—from coaching to hitting and fielding and pitching. We’ve got some time to get together before we play again. We are really looking forward to the opportunity to show that these last three games were an anomaly and not the way we are going to play the game.”
The Eagles return to The Nest for a weekend of softball as they host the FGCU/ Four Points by Sheraton Round Robin Tournament at the FGCU Softball Complex. The Eagles will play their first game of the weekend this Friday night starting at 6 p.m. with a double-header against Villanova and North Dakota.