LAKE CHARLES—McNeese softball will look to remain atop the league standings this weekend when the Cowgirls travel to Thibodaux for a three game Southland Conference series against Nicholls beginning Friday at the Colonels Softball Complex.
The series will begin with a single game at 6 p.m. Friday and will conclude with a doubleheader Saturday beginning at noon.
McNeese (25-12, 11-1 SLC) heads into the series tied for first place with Central Arkansas who will travel to third place Northwestern State this weekend for a SLC series.
The Cowgirls return to the diamond after a week off due to a cancelled mid-week home game against Louisiana-Lafayette. McNeese is coming off a SLC series win at Abilene Christian that saw the Cowgirls drop their first conference game of the season, 8-2 in the second game of the series against the Wildcats last Friday.
McNeese enters the weekend with the second best team batting average (.354) and the lowest team ERA (1.20) in conference games only.
Freshman catcher
Erika Piancastelli leads the SLC with a .594 batting average, nine home runs, a .667 on base percent, a 1.563 slugging percent and is second with 22 RBI in conference only stats. Piancastelli is batting .408 overall with 13 home runs, 36 RBI and 20 walks.
Joining Piancastelli with a .300 or above batting average is senior
Lauren Langner, junior
Emily Vincent and freshmen
Bryanna Castro and
Hailey Drew.
Langner is hitting .400 and leads the Cowgirls with 44 hits and has 17 stolen bases. Vincent is batting .353 with 41 hits, 10 doubles and team-high four triples. Castro is batting .328 with 22 hits and nine RBI. Drew is batting .312 with 29 hits, six doubles, 25 walks and 18 stolen bases.
The Cowgirls have three pitchers ranked in the Top 5 in ERA in conference only stats. Sophomore
Rachel Smith is leading the pack with a 0.26 ERA in 27 innings pitched. Smith enters the weekend at 9-3 overall and 4-0 in conference play. She has allowed only one earned run in conference games.
Vincent leads the Cowgirls' pitching staff with a 10-2 overall record and is also 4-0 in conference games. Vincent has a 1.09 ERA in SLC games only and has thrown 25.2 innings.
Junior
Jamie Allred is 3-1 with a 2.40 ERA in conference games. Allred has thrown 23.1 innings and has picked up one save. Allred leads McNeese with three saves on the season.
Nicholls (20-13, 6-6 SLC) is coming off a doubleheader road win at Alcorn on Wednesday. The Colonels return home after handing Central Arkansas their first Southland Conference loss of the season with a 6-5, eight inning win in the final game of the series last weekend.
Haley Stevenson leads the Colonels with a .374 average. Alexis Huss has a team high four home runs while Kayla Prater leads the team with 33 RBI. Hannah Haydel leads Nicholls in the circle wit ha 11-6 record and a 2.51 ERA in 103 innings. She also leads the staff with 75 strikeouts and eight complete games.
