LAKE CHARLES—McNeese softball (20-6) fresh off its Southland Conference series sweep at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, will step out of conference action Tuesday and Wednesday to host Utah (17-9) in a three game series.
The two teams were originally schedule to play a single game Tuesday and a doubleheader on Wednesday but due to the threat of rain, a doubleheader will be played Tuesday beginning at 5 p.m. The series will conclude with a single game at 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
The two teams have only met twice with the Utes leading the all-time series 2-0 after defeating the Cowgirls in a pair of games at the Texas A&M Invite in 2005. Utah won the first game 2-1 before picking up a 6-1 win over McNeese the next day.
The Cowgirls enter the series having won their last eight games and 10 of their last 11 including Southland Conference series sweeps over Sam Houston State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi the last two weekends.
McNeese is batting .297 as a team and has 39 doubles, five triples and 24 home runs. The Cowgirls also have a .477 team-slugging percent and a .372 on base percent.
Senior
Lauren Langner leads McNeese at the plate with a .419 average, five doubles and nine RBI's. Freshman
Erika Piancastelli is hitting .416 and has a team high 10 doubles, eight home runs and 25 RBI.
The Cowgirls' pitching staff as a 2.30 team ERA, having given up 58 earned runs in 176.1 innings.
Junior southpaw
Emily Vincent leads the staff with an 8-1 record with a 1.11 ERA. Sophomore
Rachel Smith is 7-2 on the season with a 2.33 ERA and team-high 48 strikeouts.
Utah is coming off a Pac-12 series loss to No. 13/10 ranked UCLA over the weekend. The Utes were shutout in the first and final game of the series and dropped the second game of the series 4-2.
Kate Dickman leads the Utes with a .436 average, 34 hits, and eight doubles along with three home runs. Bridget Castro has a team-high four home runs and 22 RBI.
Katie Donovan leads the pitching staff with six victories (6-3), innings pitched (83.0) and strikeouts (63).
The Cowgirls will return to Southland Conference action when they will host Houston Baptist in a three-game series beginning with a 3 p.m. doubleheader on Friday.
