Upcoming Event: Softball versus Indiana on February 5, 2026 at 6:00 PM
6:00 PM
Softball
vs. Indiana
Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Friday, February 14
Orlando, FLA.
4:30 PM
Florida Atlantic
vs
Penn State
Photo by: Jeff Romance
Softball Heads to Orlando for UCF Knights Classic
2/13/2020 1:29:00 PM | Softball
| FAU at UCF Knights Classic | ||
|---|---|---|
| Tournament Details | Feb. 14-16, 2020 | UCF Softball Complex | Orlando, Fla. | |
| Game Coverage | Live Stats: Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4 | Game 5 Live Stream: Game 5 Only Twitter:Â @fauowlssoftball Instagram:Â @Owls_softball |
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| Florida Atlantic Links | Notes | News | Roster | Schedule | |
| Penn State Links | Notes | News | Roster | Schedule | |
| Villanova Links | News | Roster | Schedule | |
| Iowa State Links | News | Roster | Schedule | |
| UCF Links | Notes | News | Roster | Schedule | |
BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic University softball team will embark its first tournament away from home at the UCF Knights Classic. FAU will square off against Penn State, Villanova, Iowa State and UCF.
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About the Owls
- The Owls are coming off the FAU First Pitch Classic having started out the 2020 season at 1-3
- After one week of play, Myah Murray leads the Owls with a .333 batting average, while Fayth Davis, Jolie Duffner and Kaitlyn Burke follow, each batting .300. In the circle, Abigail Morgan leads the way with a 3.00 ERA and four strikeouts
- The softball program is celebrating its 26th season, all under direction of head coach Joan Joyce, who is seeking her 1,000th career win this year
- FAU was projected to finish eighth in the conference, as chosen by the league's head coaches. North Texas, co-regular season champions, was picked to finish at the top of the conference with nine first place votes
- Davis (OF) was picked to the C-USA Preseason Team after finishing the year batting .389 (.400 C-USA), which was third best in the conference and best among outfielders in the league. She also tallied 15 doubles and 2 home runs in her redshirt sophomore campaign
- FAU is looking to improve upon its 20-30 (7-17 C-USA) finish in 2019. The Owls missed the conference tournament for the first time
- The team welcomes 12 newcomers, as well as brings back 11 players and four everyday starters
FAU Game Schedule
| Day | Time | Opponent | Live Stats | Video |
| Friday, Feb. 14 | 4:30 p.m. | Penn State | Stats | N/A |
| Saturday, Feb. 15 | 9 a.m. | Villanova | Stats | N/A |
| 11 a.m. | Penn State | Stats | N/A | |
| Sunday, Feb. 16 | 11:30 a.m. | Iowa State | Stats | N/A |
| 1:30 p.m. | UCF | Stats | Video |
Game Notes
Eyeing the Competition
Penn State (Friday at 4:30 p.m. and Saturday at 11 a.m.)
All-time series: 6-5, FAU leads
- The Owls will play the Nittany Lions twice over the weekend, marking the 12th and 13th meetings between the two squads
- The first game between the two teams took place on March 2, 1996 and resulted in a 5-4 loss
- FAU has won the past four games to take a 6-5 lead in the series
- The last time out, FAU won 4-2 at the FAU Kickoff Classic in 2016
- The Nittany Lions have started out the year 3-2 with their most recent loss coming against Cal 3-1 at the Felsburg Invitational at FIU
- Penn State is coming off a 24-32 season and lost to Indiana 4-2 at the Big 10 Tournament
- Kaitlyn Morrison leads the Nittany Lions with a .438 batting average, while Kennedy Legg follows, batting .385 with five RBI
- Bailey Parshall has seen the most time in the circle, pitching 15.1 innings with a 2.28 ERA. The pitching staff has allowed seven earned runs thus far
Villanova (Saturday at 9 a.m.)
All-time series: 3-0, FAU leads
- The Owls will square off against the Wildcats for the fourth time
- FAU has outscored Villanova 11-1 in the three games
- The first time these teams met was on March 2, 1998, which resulted in a 7-1 win for FAU. The Owls also claimed a 3-0 win in their last meeting at the Eller Media Stadium Classic on March 1, 2014
- The Wildcats went 3-2 at the Jacksonville Tournament. Villanova's last loss came against Jacksonville, 5-1 on Sunday
- Last season, the team finished 29-24 with its season ending in a 11-10 loss against DePaul in the Big East Championship game
- Becky Ducar leads the way with a .667 batting average, while Paige Rauch follows at .636 with three home runs. Rauch also leads the way in the circle with a 3-0 record and a 1.31 ERA
All-time series: 5-1, FAU leads
- Sunday will mark the seventh meeting between the two teams
- The Owls lost the first game of the series 5-3 in 1997, but have proceeded to win the last five straight, including a most recent 6-0 shutout victory at the Eller Media Stadium Classic in 2013
- The Cyclones have started the year 4-1, winning the last four games at the Paradise Classic hosted by Hawaii. Iowa State's most recent victory was against Memphis in a 4-2 decision
- Iowa State rounded out 2019 with a 37-25 record and were unable to play the third-place game at the Big12 Tournament due to cancellation after losing to Oklahoma State, 17-2. The Cyclones played at the National Invitational Softball Championship, with its season ending in a 4-3 loss to UT Arlington
- The Cyclones are led by Hannah Carter who bats .538 and Ellie Spelhaug in the circle, who posts a 0.55 ERA
UCF (Sunday at 1:30 p.m.)
All-time series: 15-11, FAU leads
- The Owls and Knights have played almost every year since 2002
- Sunday will mark the 27th meeting between the two teams
- The last time these teams faced off was in 2018, which resulted in a 2-1 loss in Orlando
- The Knights hosted the Black and Gold Tournament where they started out the year 5-1. UCF faced No. 1 Washington in a Wednesday night game, but fell to the Huskies, 12-3
- UCF finished last season 34-21 and dropped their AAC Quarterfinal matchup against Wichita State, 2-1
- Justene Molina leads the Knights with a .600 batting average. Alea White has pitched the most thus far, with 19.0 innings spent in the circle. White is 3-0 and holds a 1.47 ERA
FAU First Pitch Classic Recap
- The Owls went 1-3 on opening weekend
- FAU dropped its first game against Wisconsin, 5-1. Ashleigh Jennings doubled in the third inning, as the Owls trailed 3-1, but were unable to catch up with the Badgers who scored two more insurance runs in the sixth
- The Owls' game against Indiana State was cancelled
- FAU beat Northern Illinois, 4-3. Abigail Morgan pitched a complete game for the win, while Fayth Davis, Kaitlyn Burke, Jolie Duffner and Ashleigh Jennings came up with an RBI in the victory
- The Owls played Purdue twice and dropped both games. In the first matchup, the Owls fell 14-3 in five innings and lost the second game, 9-0
First Pitch Classic Highlights
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Up Next
The Owls will be back home next weekend to host the 2020 FAU Strikeout Cancer Tournament from Feb. 21-23. To purchase tickets, visit the Ticketmaster page or call 1-866-FAU-OWLS.
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Follow the Owls
For live updates during all of the Owls' games and for other FAU softball news, follow along on Twitter (@fauowlssoftball), Instagram (@Owls_softball) and Facebook.
Players Mentioned
C
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
IF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
P/1B
/ Softball
IF
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