The Florida Atlantic University softball team will play a midweek game against Florida International University on March 25 in Miami, with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. on ESPN+.
This matchup comes before the Owls resume American Conference play. The Owls, currently holding a record of 21-11, recently played Wichita State in a three-game series where two games were decided by walk-off home runs. They secured a 3-2 win in the final game, highlighted by senior pitcher Autumn Courtney’s fifth complete game of the season, allowing just two hits and no earned runs.
Head Coach Jordan Clark is leading the program for her fourth season and has accumulated a record of 142-59. Clark and her staff received American Conference Coaching Staff of the Year honors in both 2024 and 2025. The Owls are back-to-back regular season champions and were ranked No.1 in the American Conference Preseason Coaches’ Poll this year.
Statistically, Florida Atlantic leads the conference in several categories including runs scored (189), doubles (52), RBI (168), walks (118), on-base percentage (.410), runs allowed (98), strikeouts thrown (202), opposing batting average (.241) and fielding percentage (.982). Nationally, they rank No.8 in fielding percentage and No.35 in doubles.
Redshirt junior outfielder Kylie Hammonds is currently on a ten-game hitting streak, leads the conference with 34 runs scored, tops her team with seven home runs, and holds FAU’s all-time program record for career hit-by-pitches at twenty. Sophomore Lily Holtje has been recognized as an American Player of the Week once and earned two Honorable Mentions; she leads her team in doubles (10), RBI (27), walks (20) and on-base percentage (.509). Senior third baseman Jesiana Mora has reached base safely in twenty-four out of twenty-seven games this season; she tied FAU’s single-game walk record with four against Coastal Carolina earlier this year.
In pitching highlights, Courtney became FAU’s fifth All-American last May after winning unanimous American Conference Pitcher of the Year honors; she opened this season as American Pitcher of the Week and now leads her team with sixty-six strikeouts while maintaining a 2.48 ERA. She ranks fourth nationally among active players with seventy career victories and was named Palm Beach County Amateur Athlete of the Year earlier this month. Graduate pitcher Ainsley Lambert leads NCAA Division I softball with six saves so far this year—she also holds twenty-eight career saves among active players—and paces her conference by holding opponents to a .203 batting average.
For FIU, Head Coach Mike Larabee is now serving his fifth season at the helm. Junior outfielder Kally Meredith stands eighth nationally for hits at fifty-one while ranking eleventh for batting average at .515; junior pitcher J’dah Girigorie has made eleven starts—including six complete games—and posted fifty-one strikeouts along with a 2.65 ERA so far this year.
Historically, Florida Atlantic holds an advantage over FIU with sixty-six wins to forty-two losses all-time between these programs; last year they split their two meetings evenly.
After Wednesday’s contest against FIU concludes, Florida Atlantic will return home to host UTSA from March 27 through March 29 at Joan Joyce Field inside FAU Softball Stadium—with all three games set to air live on ESPN+.
