HAMMOND— Freshman
Morgan Catron's pinch hit grand slam in the ninth inning was enough to give McNeese a 9-5 come from behind Southland Conference win Friday night. The night also featured
Erika Piancastelli's record breaking 18
th home run in the seventh inning that sent the game into extra innings.
With the Cowgirls trailing 5-2 heading into the seventh inning and their backs against the wall,
Hailey Drew reached first on a one out, four pitch walk.
Lauren Langner followed Drew with a walk also, setting the stage for Piancastelli. Piancastelli got down in the count 0-2 before staying alive with two balls on the next two pitches. After she fouled off the next pitch, the freshman sent the next pitch over the centerfield wall to tie the game at five all and gave McNeese new life. The homer also broke the McNeese single season home run record held by Heather Moreaux since 2000.
The Cowgirls missed a golden opportunity to win the game in the top of the eighth after
Taylor Schmidt led the inning off with a double then went to third on a sacrifice bunt by
Taylor Goree. Unfortunately, the Cowgirls left Schmidt stranded on third.
Southeastern La. also had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the eighth but Katie Lacour was left stranded on second when Cowgirl reliever
Emily Vincent got Sydney Booker to fly out to left for the third out.
McNeese got a second chance to take the lead in the ninth inning and took full advantage of it this time. After a ground out by Langner, the Lions walked Piancastelli, Vincent and
Bryanna Castro to load the bases. The Cowgirls opted to go pinch hit for
Tori Yanitor with Catron. Like Piancastelli, Catron got down in the count 0-2 before taking her first ball. Catron then hit her second home run of the year and first career grand slam over the right field fence to give McNeese a 9-5 lead. Vincent shut the Lions down in the bottom of the ninth getting the first three batters to ground out consecutively to end the game.
Southeastern La. jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning on a three-run home run by Megan Moore. The Lions added another run in the second inning when Cowgirl starter
Jamie Allred hit Kasey Nielson with the bases loaded to extend their lead to 4-0.
McNeese got on the board with two runs in the third on a triple by Vincent that scored Langner and Taunton.
Southeastern La. got one of those runs back in the fourth on a RBI single by Moore to take a 5-2 lead.
Trailing 5-2 heading to the seventh and their backs against the wall, McNeese scored seven runs in the final two innings to take the win.
McNeese outhit Southeastern La. 12-11 and was led by Schmidt's 4 for 4 plate appearance. The Cowgirls also picked up five extra base hits in the game and didn't commit an error.
Vincent improves to 11-5 on the year with the win in relief of Allred. Vincent gave up one run on six hits with nine strikeout, one shy of her career high in 7.2 innings.
