Owls' Trio Sweeps SBC Postseason Awards

May 8, 2007

MURFREESBORO, TN - After capturing its first Sun Belt Conference regular-season title in its first season as a conference member, the Florida Atlantic University softball team had several of its members honored by the Sun Belt Conference on Tuesday.

Seniors Mandie Fishback and Jen Musillo were named SBC Player and Pitcher of the Year, respectively, while head coach Joan Joyce was named SBC Coach of the Year. Musillo and Fishback were also named members of the First-Team All-Conference squad.

Fishback batted .361 on the season with a team-best seven home runs and 34 RBI. The senior also led the Owls in on-base percentage (.419), slugging percentage (.583). She led all SBC players in batting average (.478), slugging percentage (.836) and on-base percentage (.563) in conference play.

Musillo was tops in the conference in SBC ERA (1.25), wins (14-3) and strikeouts (131). On the year, she posted a 1.31 ERA with a 22-10 record in 207 2/3 innings of work. The Tequesta, FL native struck out 237 batters on the year, holding opponents to a .194 batting average. Prior to the season, Musillo was named the SBC Preseason Pitcher of the year, as well as a member of the Preseason All-Conference team.

The senior duo each earned SBC weekly honors twice during the 2007 campaign.

Joyce was named Coach of the Year for the sixth time in her career, the previous five during FAU's time in the Atlantic Sun and the last coming in 2002. She has led FAU to at least 30 wins in every season during the program's existence, and has a 582-295 career record as the head coach of the Owls.

Fishback was a dominant force in FAU's batting order all season.

Fishback, Musillo and Joyce will lead the Owls into the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, set to begin on Wednesday at Blue Raider Softball Field. FAU is the no. 1 seed as the regular-season champion and will face no. 8 Florida International in the first round. The first pitch is scheduled to be at 4 p.m., eastern.

The Owls were 42-10 during conference tournament play in their 11 seasons as a member of the Atlantic Sun. FAU has won nine conference titles in the past 10 seasons, all in the A-Sun, and has advanced to the NCAA Regionals seven times since 1999.

FAU won eight of its last nine conference games to spring from third-place into first in the regular-season's final weekend, edging out preseason favorite Louisiana-Lafayette and Troy.

Joyce has led her team to eight regular-season titles.

Live audio play-by-play will be available for all of FAU's games during the postseason through Owls' All-Access on FAUsports.com, while live stats and live video streaming for every conference tournament game will be available through the SBC office at SunBeltSports.org. The fee for Owls' All-Access is $6.95/month, and the charge for the tournament package through the Sun Belt is $9.95. A tournament bracket is also available in PDF form on FAUsports.com.

The double-elimination tournament will continue on Thursday and Friday with the championship game slated for 3 p.m. ET on Saturday. The championship game will also be broadcast live on the Sun Belt Regional TV Network (Cox Sports Television and Comcast Sports Southeast).

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Players Mentioned

Mandie Fishback

Jen Musillo

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Event: Softball versus St. Johns River (10 Innings) on October 24, 2025 at 5 p.m.

Upcoming Event: Softball versus Lynn (10 Innings) on October 25, 2025 at 1 p.m.

Upcoming Event: Softball versus Miami Dade (10 Innings) on October 29, 2025 at 5 p.m.

Upcoming Event: Softball at Eastern Florida State on November 1, 2025 at 12 p.m.

Upcoming Event: Softball versus Keiser on November 1, 2025 at 2 p.m.

Upcoming Event: Softball versus Nova Southeastern (10 Innings) on November 5, 2025 at 5 p.m.

Florida Atlantic University Athletics