For the first time since May 21st 2016 FAU softball has won a regional game. It took extra innings and a whole lot of heart, but the Owls scraped and clawed their way to a 5-4 victory after 8 innings.
Things were smooth sailing for the Owls out of the gates, as Bella Cimino launched a homerun over the left field wall in the bottom of the second to give the Owls a 1-0 lead, which Autumn Courtney maintained with 5 shutout innings where she allowed just 2 hits.
Ciara Gibson padded the Owls lead in the bottom of the 5th with a solo shot of her own over the right field wall and the Owls headed into the top of the 6th with a 2-0 lead, however after that it became a back and forth affair.
In the top of the 6th Georgia Tech fought back, striking for 3 straight singles to start the inning that ultimately chased Autumn Courtney from the game and turned into 3 runs and a 3-2 Yellow Jacket lead behind an RBI single from Grace Connelly and 2 RBI double from Gracyn Tucker.
The Owls weren’t done however, as in the bottom of the 6th Jordan Clark’s squad had a 2 out rally in their bones, as Destiny Johns worked a walk with 2 away and Ciara Gibson followed her up with an RBI double down the left field line to even the game at 3. The rally wasn’t finished there, as Kiley Shelton ripped an RBI double, also down the left field line, to give the Owls a 4-3 lead headed to the top of the 7th.
It wouldn’t be a regional without drama, as the Yellow Jackets were down to their last strike, in a 3-2 count with one of their most productive hitters in Addison Leschber at the plate and the Georgia Tech slugger delivered, finding a way to send a solo home run over the right field wall against one of the most dominant closers in college softball in Ainsley Lambert and even the game at 4 headed to the bottom of the 7th.
After FAU was unable to come through in the bottom of the 7th, the game headed to extras where Autumn Courtney returned to the circle and worked a scoreless 8th, stranding 2 Yellow Jackets after back to back singles with 2 away. The Owls started right away in their half of the 8th, getting a Leadoff single from Chloe Yeatts, who was pinch-run for by Annika Segedi and after a flyout from Cimino and Fielders Choice from Destiny Johns the Owls had Johns at first with two away.
In the next at-bat, Gibson worked a walk which gave the Owls first and second and brought up Kiley Shelton once again and with the game on the line Shelton delivered again, sending a bloop single to right which fell, scoring Johns and giving the Owls their first regional win since 2016. The Owls bats showed the ability to be resilient throughout the game and according to FAU Head Coach Jordan Clark, that was because no matter where in the order they were, FAU was able to get production.
“I was actually frustrated for most of the ball game, because we had seven hits, yes, like, we had a couple of home runs, a couple of doubles, but ultimately, we still have more in the tank. And I think that’s the big thing is our top half of the lineup is pressing a little bit. And so, like, all season long, our top half has been so good, so scoring runs has been so easy. And when those guys aren’t necessarily scoring runs or getting hits, like, we just feel it a little bit more but, you know, the bottom half, like, like Shelley (Kiley Shelton), Ciara, Bella Cimino, they found ways to get it done, and that’s why we say, we’re strong one through nine, halfway through the game we had a little bit of a come to Jesus, and it was like, we are going to do something different, like this is what we are going to do to to win this game. And they all bought in, and that’s when Ciara hit that home run. And it was just a really cool moment,” Clark said.
For Kiley Shelton, it was a massive performance in one of the biggest moments of the season for FAU, as she gave the Owls the lead not once, but twice, never giving up and having it pay off to the tune of the Owls first regional win in 9 years. Shelton finished the game 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs and her ability to come up and repeat her clutch hitting performance just 2 innings after she gave FAU lead is a microcosm of the ‘never give up’ mentality that helped them throughout the season.
Shelton isn’t new to the big-stage, as outside of winning Patriot league freshman of the year a season ago at Colgate, she comes from a family which is familiar with the big-stage in their own right, as her brother Colby Shelton played for Florida baseball and her Sister Karley plays for South Carolina Softball. Shelton says she wasn’t trying to one up her siblings with her clutch performance today, rather she simply just wanted to get the job done for her team.
“I haven’t had the year I wanted, so I just knew that when I went up there that this postseason is a new slate. So just going out there, putting the best bat I can together, and just going out there and try and get it done at the end,” Shelton said.
Coach Clark has had confidence in her right fielder since she went after her in the transfer portal this past offseason out of Colgate and although she admittedly hasn’t had the season that she had liked, that confidence from Clark never wavered. While some teams hide “weak” hitters towards the bottom of the lineup, that is far from the case with FAU, as with Clark inspiring confidence in her players, she has developed a lineup that can hit 1 through 9.
With the game on the line Clark’s confidence remained in Shelton multiple times and she told her that no matter what, she was going to do it and she did.
“And I will never forget Shelley’s (Kiley Shelton’s) visit this summer, just talking about how bad we wanted her, what she was going to do for our program, and for her to stay the course, and at the end of the game, just telling her, like, you’re going to do this, like there’s not an option, like you’re going to get this done. And so just knowing that they have my back, our staff’s back and each other’s back is just really special,” Clark said.
In the circle, although there was some brief bumps in the road, Courtney and Lambert got the job done for FAU in the end, with Courtney pitching 6.1 innings total, allowing 3 runs while striking out 7 and walking just 2, while Lambert went 1.2 innings, allowing one run and striking out one and picking up the win.
According to Clark, although she took Courtney out, that was largely because of her trust in Lambert and Courtney’s ability to come back in and get the job done without issue is exactly why she came to FAU in the first place.
“I took Autumn out not because she was doing bad. I pulled her out because Ainsley has been so clutch for us in those moments, and she got that one good out, that first batter, and then, and obviously just didn’t go Ainsley’s way today. And that’s why autumn had her back and was able to come back in. And so I’m just really proud of her. This is Autumn’s first regionals. That’s why she came to us. She wanted to play on the big stage. She wanted to be in these moments before the game. She could not stop smiling ear to ear, just knowing that, like, wow, like my dream is coming true,” Clark said.
Next up for FAU will be the University of Florida, as the Gators knocked off Mercer 8-0 in their opening round game Friday which will set up a 12 PM matchup on a Saturday with a trip to the Sunday regional final on the line. The biggest thing the Owls can improve on in the next 24 hours according to Coach Clark is learning how to better approach at-bats from a swing to swing approach, but other than that, not much will change in the Owls approach.
“Learning from swing to swing. I just felt like we kept seeing the same swing over and over. So, you know, I want to go back. I want to watch some film. And I want them to really see, ‘what is a small, mini goal I can have for myself?’ I think right now, we’re hunting for a hit. We’re hunting for that big RBI. And I want to see them like, just really take pride in, ‘how can I get a call’? ‘How can I get a point’? We have a point game in the dugout that we play. How can you get a point for your team? And so, yeah, I want to, I just want to go back. I want to enjoy it. Like some coaches are like, Let’s go watch this next game. Let’s do this. And I’m like, You know what? Go see your families. Go eat with your families, like we haven’t changed anything all year long. And so I want to make sure we stay true to who we are and just enjoy the moment. And then we’ll probably stay up,” Clark said.