Photo by Jasen Delgado/FIUSM
By Ruben Palacios/Sports Director
Through 16 games, the softball team has earned its brand-new stadium.
The Panthers are 12-4 and off to one of the best starts to a season in program history, despite being an extremely young team. Out of the 18 players on the team just four of them are seniors, seven players are either freshman or redshirt freshman, three are sophomores and four are juniors.
The most intriguing youngster of them all is freshman Stephanie Texeira.
Texeira, just an 18-year-old, is the first high school all-American to sign with FIU in in program history. And through 16 games, she has lived up to the billing that any high school all-American provides. She’s batting a team-high .444 and is tied for team high’s in home runs and hits.
“A lot of people don’t really expect freshman to come out strong,” Texeira said of how opponents approach her. “They expect them to be nervous and just rookies.”
The freshman has made such a splash on the collegiate scene that she has already won Conference-USA Player of the Week honors. Texeira went 10-for-14 during the Felsberg Memorial, accumulating four doubles and five RBIs, earning her the honor.
Texeira has played less than a month of collegiate softball, but already commands a ton of respect from opposing pitchers and defenses. She’s gotten 12 free bases thus far, six via hit by pitch and another half dozen via base on balls.
“I don’t look at it as a bad thing,” Texeira said of teams pitching around her. “I take it as a challenge because I know they know what I can and can’t hit. So to me I just take it as a challenge and I just approach everything as they want to strike me out.”
Panthers Head Coach Jake Schumann is entering his third year at FIU, and has rapidly become the catalyst within the successful program.
His first two years at FIU, he guided the Panthers to an even 55-55 combined record. But this year, Schumann’s squad is winning at a .750 clip and are on pace to win over 40 games for the first time in program history.
“The bottom line is that we have a bunch of girls that are buying into what we’re doing,” Schumann said of his team. “We’re just going to continue to practice hard and show up everyday with the same mindset.”
With better play comes bigger goals. After two average seasons, the Panthers are cruising to wins regularly and have their eyes set on a conference crown and beyond.
“Our number one goal is always to win the conference. We’re brand new in Conference-USA this year so that’s got to be the original goal it has to be number one,” Schumann said. “Beyond that we’d like to win a Regional, we’d like to go to Oklahoma City and participate in the World Series. That’s the ultimate goal, that’s the dream.”
The Panthers have marked the C-USA tournament down on their calendar, which begins on May 8, in Boca Raton. The College World Series, FIU’s ultimate goal, begins May 28 in Oklahoma City.
About Post Author
