HOUSTON, Texas—McNeese softball ended Saturday's action at the Houston Hilton Invitational with a 4-1 win over Northern Iowa after falling 7-6 to Stephen F. Austin in eight innings earlier.
 
"I'm very proud of how our girls responded after a hard fought game against SFA," said head coach Joanna Hardin. "We missed some opportunities to put the game away this morning bet we responded really well against UNI. Every game on our schedule this year is going to be a fight."
 
McNeese (6-3) took a 2-0 lead in the first inning against Northern Iowa on a two run home run by Hailey Drew.  The long ball is Drew's second in as many days. She hit her first career in the 3-1 win over Houston on Friday.
 
Northern Iowa cut the lead 2-1 in the fourth inning on a leadoff home run by Kristen Lock.
 
The Cowgirls were scoreless until a RBI single by Lauren Langner gave McNeese a 3-1 lead.  McNeese added an insurance run in the seventh on a RBI double by Emily Vincent for a 4-1 lead.  Vincent helped her cause in the circle by got UNI's Macey Wolfe and Samantha Nicholson to pop up for the first two outs before striking out Anna Varriano to end the game. Vincent gave up two hits, two walks and struck out four.
 
McNeese collected nine hits with Vincent, Langner and Tori Yanitor all picking up two apiece.  Vincent also had a tripled in the first inning.
 
Stephen F. Austin took a 2-0 lead with single runs in the second and fifth.  McNeese scored four runs on five hits in the fifth to take a 4-2 lead.  RBI doubles by Erika Piancastelli and Yanitor coupled with a two RBI double by Drew knocked in the Cowgirl runs.
 
McNeese added one more run in the sixth on Piancastelli's second double of the game that scored Taylor Schmidt for a 5-2 lead.  The Ladyjacks retook the lead (6-5) in the seventh with four runs on three hits. A single by Annie Mehringer and a double by Taylor LeFlore pushed the runs across the plate.
 
McNeese tied the game at six in the bottom of the seventh when Langner led the inning off with a single up the middle and advanced to third on a Marissa Taunton ground out to third.  Langner scored on a Drew sacrifice fly to center, sending the game into extra innings.
 
With the international tiebreaker in place, LeFlore was put on second base.  LeFlore went to third on a grounder to Cowgirl pitcher Rachel Smith who was in relief of Jamie Allred. Smith struggled to find the strike zone and walked the next three batters as LeFlore scored on Alisa Hamilton's walk. Smith got out of the inning after striking out Shalie Day.
 
McNeese's Dakota Matiko was place on second in the bottom of the inning. Matiko went to third on a fly out by Taylor Schmidt.  The Cowgirls left the game-tying run stranded on third after Melissa Arriaga and Taylor Goree both flew out to end the game.
 
Piancastelli led McNeese at the plate, going 3 for 4 with two RBI. Langner was 2 for 3 and scored two runs. Drew was 2 for 4 with three RBI.
 
McNeese will conclude tournament play by facing DePaul at 11:30 a.m.
 
"We know that every game is an opportunity for us to learn more about ourselves, make adjustments, and get better. We look forward to a great game against a very strong DePaul team tomorrow."