Cassandra Chincoya | Staff Writer
After a disappointing loss to Incarnate Word following their 5-game win streak, the FIU Panthers look to host the annual FIU Classic on Felsberg Field at Baptist Health Stadium from Friday, Feb. 27 to Sunday Mar. 1.
Harvard
Up first on the docket will be Harvard, who the Panthers will play at 12:30 PM Friday.
Harvard has had an inconsistent season so far, struggling to stay above .500 with a 5-4 record. They’re led at the plate by outfielders Sheila Forbes and Audrey Szollosi, who are the only two on Harvard’s roster with both a minimum OPS of .800 and a batting average over .400.
A pair of Aces highlight the Harvard bullpen.
Junior Pitcher Nicolette Hunter will prove to be the toughest challenge for Panther bats, with her ERA hovering barely above 1.00 at 1.15. This with her team best 18.1 innings pitched only helps solidify her individual 2026 success so far.
Senior Pitcher Ryan Grace has an ERA only slightly higher than that of Hunter’s, sitting at an intimidating 1.43 over slightly fewer innings pitched.
Immediately following the Harvard game, the Panthers will take on the Fordham Rams.
Fordham
Senior Pitcher Holly Beeman has had a very impressive season with an ERA of 2.30 and a win-loss record of 2-1 through her 3 starts.
All of Fordham’s wins this season have come off the back of shutdown pitchers getting solid run support from the likes of hitters Neleh Nogay or Eva Koratsis.
Those two hitters have been essential to the Fordham offense, their combined total bases of 27 outnumbers the next three hitters in the lineup combined. Nogay excels in getting to home plate herself, while Koratsis trails only catcher Nicki Sudall in RBIs.
South Dakota will round up the third game of the tournament for the Panthers.
South Dakota
FIU and South Dakota will play each other at 12:30 PM on Friday, Feb. 28.
Fortunes have shifted in time, as now FIU looks to be the school handing South Dakota another loss in a season where they haven’t won a game outside of the state of Texas.
South Dakota relies heavily upon their bats to win them games.
Of their two only pitchers who meet the minimum of 1 inning per game for qualifying statistics, neither has an ERA below 3.50. Hitters hit better against South Dakota then they would against a replacement level pitcher.
Junior infielder Brooke Carey shoulders much of the offensive burden, with fellow infielder Delaney White as a complementary hitter.
Carey has a batting average .432, with 19 hits and 24 total bases over all 15 of the team’s games.
White’s batting average and total bases sit several points below that of Carey’s, but she makes up for it with 9 RBIs to Carey’s 4.
FIU’s got themselves three different puzzles to solve this upcoming weekend.
Head Coach Mike Larabee has coached a great season so far in empowering his players to play into their strengths.
What decisions he’ll make regarding the pitchers for each game will give insights into trends that will carry on for the rest of the season.
Senior Pitcher Kennedy Byrd and Junior J’dah Girigorie have proven to be reliable steady hands on the mound that Coach Larabee can rely on when called for it.
Even if they weren’t, several fielder performances so far this season have illustrated just how well rounded this team is.
Catcher Isabella Perez has 60 put outs on 70 catches, and will continue to be instrumental for keeping these opposing teams off home plate.
Infielders Paige Miller and Leah Clark have a combined 54 assists, while infielder Sammy Zelanka has the second most put outs on the team with 56. Every single one of Zelanka’s catches has resulted in an out.
As a team, FIU is averaging a fielding percentage of .985 amongst players with a minimum of 10 catches. The defensive performance all over the field has been nothing short of historic.
With an ace like Senior Brooke McNichols leading the defense while carrying an ERA of .70, Coach Larabee will have little to worry about as he shifts his priority to the offense.
Two of the three Panther opponents have an experienced pitcher to keep FIU’s rotation of sluggers on their toes.
Junior Kally Meredith has played excellently through all 16 games of the season so far, hitting a monumental .540 with an OPS 1.269. She’s scored 20 runs to add on to her resume so far.
The next best bat for the Panthers after Meredith is Leah Clark, hitting an average of .383 with 15 RBIs.
Kennedy Byrd is also having an excellent season on the plate with 11 RBIs off of only 15 hits. That’s an RBI every other hit, from a pitcher already with 5 wins on the season.
Several fielders besides Clark are having great seasons in their own right, with all players who have played a minimum of 1 inning per game besides Meredith and Clark averaging .306 at the plate.
But with Junior Kally Meredith’s historic performance this season so far and a slew of monsters behind her to keep games in their favor, little seems to be in the way of stopping the absolutely dominant season FIU softball has had from continuing.
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