Florida International University freshman pitcher Shannon Saile struck out nine while throwing her 23rd complete game of the season in a 4-1 victory over Marshall last week. The win propelled the Panthers (45-12) into the C-USA softball championship game.
Previously, Saile set a personal record with 14 strikeouts and tossed a complete-game, one-hit shutout, 3-0, of visiting WKU which kicked off a C-USA softball doubleheader at Felsberg Field and FIU Softball Stadium.
Saile tied the league-high total for punchouts in a single game, the fourth 14-strikeout game by a C-USA pitcher this season.
Saile needed one big hit, and she got it in the fifth inning, when redshirt senior Dani Mowry blasted the first pitch she saw in the fifth inning over the fence in left center for a three-run homer, her career-best sixth of the year.
Saile was nearly perfect, hitting one batter in the first and giving up the bunt single in the fourth. She faced one more than the minimum for her seventh shutout of the season and 22nd complete game of her first collegiate campaign. Saile went from 10th to sixth in program history for total strikeouts in a season, at 184. It was the seventh time she pushed her strikeout total into double digits.