LAKE CHARLES—McNeese softball will host Lamar in its final regular season home series this weekend. The series will begin with a single game at 6 p.m. Friday and will conclude with a 3 p.m. doubleheader Saturday. Seniors
Bianca Lilly and
Lauren Langner will be honored prior to Saturday's doubleheader.
McNeese (30-18, 15-5) picked up its 30
th win of the season with a 3-2 win over Louisiana Tech on Wednesday. The win marked the seventh straight season and 14
th overall time McNeese has won 30 or more games. The Cowgirls enter the weekend in third place in the league standings, four games out of second place Central Arkansas and two and a half games out of first place Northwestern State. The regular season will conclude next weekend when McNeese will travel to Central Arkansas. The Southland Conference Tournament is set for May 6-8 in Natchitoches and Northwestern State will serve as the host.
The Cowgirls enter the series with the third best batting average in conference games only with a .320 average and the second best overall ERA (2.28). McNeese also has the top two hitters in the league in freshman
Erika Piancastelli and senior
Lauren Langner. Piancastelli is batting .536 with 30 hits, six doubles, 12 home runs, 34 RBI and 14 walks in conference games only. Langner is batting .500 with 31 hits, five doubles, 13 RBI, six walks and has stolen 11 of 12 bases in SLC games.
Junior pitcher
Emily Vincent has the third best overall ERA (1.73) in the league behind Northwestern State's Micaela Bouvier (1.20) and Mikayla Brown (1.26). Vincent is 11-5 overall with a 1.61 ERA and 5-2 in conference. Sophomore
Rachel Smith is 10-5 on the season with a 3.19 ERA, and
Jamie Allred is 6-7 on the season with a 3.29 ERA.
Lamar (22-20, 12-6 SLC) is currently in fourth place in the SLC behind McNeese. The Cardinals are coming off a 3-2, nine inning win over Jackson State Wednesday.
Stephanie Meeuwsen leads the Lady Cardinals at the plate with a .377 average while Casey Cromwell leads the team with eight home runs and Shannon Sain has a team high 30 RBI. In the circle, freshman Laura Napoli has handled most of the pitching duties this season and is 16-12 overall with a 3.59 ERA along with 64 strikeouts.
