Richard Gibson / Sports Director
The FIU Women’s Softball team couldn’t keep up with the Marshall Thundering Herd, losing three out of their four matches at home from Friday, April 23rd to Sunday, April 25th.
As a result, the Panthers have a 12-21 record, along with a 4-8 conference record. Even if FIU wins all eight remaining games on their schedule, they won’t be able to earn a winning record this season. They’re currently last out of the six teams in the Conference USA Eastern Division.
Ever since their first game in 2014, the series between FIU and Marshall has been back and forth. The Herd holds a 13-10 record over the Panthers, however FIU took two games in a tripleheader against Marshall in 2019 prior to 2021.
Game one on Friday began in FIU’s favor with the designated hitter, Bailey Grossenbacher, grounding out to center field to bring in a run in the bottom of the second. The Herd then kept the Panthers off the scoreboard and scored three runs, with two coming in the sixth, to secure a 3-1 win.
Game two on Saturday was over as soon as it began, as Marshall opened up the game with seven runs at the top of the first. FIU responded with a run in the bottom of the first and fourth innings, and three runs batted in by infielder Kayla Whitehead in the fifth.
Still, Marshall added five runs in the fourth, sixth, and seventh innings to finish with 12 runs in the game and manage FIU’s comeback to win by a score of 12-6.
Later in the same day, game three slowly began with Marshall lighting up the scoreboard with two runs in the first two innings. However, FIU scored five unanswered runs for the rest of the game to take a game in the series against the Herd.
Whitehead, catcher Carmen Perez, infielder Gaby Ruiz and outfielder Brittany Phillips all had two hits for FIU, and Whitehead and Perez combined for eight hits and six runs batted in. Pitcher Brooklyn Linneman threw a complete game, striking out a career-high five batters.
In the second inning, FIU opened up game four with a sacrifice bunt by infielder Brianna Hill, bringing home the first run of the day. Marshall then scored four runs in the third inning, taking a 4-1 lead. The Panthers rallied in the sixth with two runs, but Marshall hit two home runs in the final inning to take a 7-3 win and secure the series victory.
There are only two teams left on FIU’s schedule. The Panthers will stay at home for a four-game series against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, with game one being on Friday, April 30th at 5pm. Two straight games on Saturday, with the first being at 1pm, will be followed with game four on Sunday, May 2nd at 1pm.