LAKE CHARLES-- McNeese softball opened its final Southland Conference home series with a 10-7 win over Lamar Friday night, extending the Cowgirls' winning streak to five games.
McNeese (31-18, 16-5 SLC) looked like they were going to run rule the Cardinals after taking a 7-0 lead after two innings.
"I'm really proud of how we competed and never stopped," said head coach
Joanna Hardin. "We kept scoring, kept putting runners on and kept making things happen. You have to tip you cap off to Lamar, they kept fighting back and punching back. This series is going to be a dog fight," said Hardin.
The teams will conclude the series Saturday with a 3 p.m. doubleheader. Prior to the games, McNeese will honor senior outfielder
Lauren Langner and pitcher
Bianca Lilly.
"I'm excited for senior day, it's going to be a great day Saturday and we are excited to be able to send the seniors off the right way. We are looking forward to coming back to the field on Saturday and getting after it," Hardin said.
The Cowgirls ended the game with 13 hits, the second most hits in a game this season. Designated player
Morgan Catron continued her hot hitting streak with two hits including a three run home to give McNeese a 3-0 lead in the first inning.
Taylor Schmidt,
Hailey Drew and
Dakota Matiko also collected two hits apiece. Schmidt hit her third home run of the season in the second inning and knocked in three runs on the night.
After Catron's home run in the opening frame, Langner was hit by a pitch then scored on a Schmidt double to left center for a 4-0 lead.
McNeese kept up its aggressive play and base running in the second inning and tacked on three more runs on two hits. Catron walked, stole second, went to third on a throw at home that got
Emily Vincent attempting to score. Catron scored came home on a wild pitch. Schmidt brought Langner home on her home run that went over the center field wall.
It started to look like Vincent, the Cowgirls starter might be on her way to picking up her first career no-hitter but Lamar had other plans.
The Cardinals (22-21, 12-7 SLC) came out in the fourth inning and collected three consecutive hits and scored three runs with one out. Shannon Sain started the Lamar scoring with a solo home run before Stephanie Meewsen singled to Vincent and Sable Hawkins doubled to left center.
McNeese got a run back in the bottom of the fourth on a RBI single up the middle by Langner for an 8-3 McNeese lead.
Lamar cut the lead to 8-7 by scoring four runs on four hits in the fifth. McNeese scored two insurance runs in the sixth to extend its lead to 10-7. Catron led the inning off with a double to right center and scored when Lamar's catcher threw out Schmidt attempting to steal second. Drew's RBI to left field scored
Bryanna Castro. Castro re-entered the game after
Amber Schisler singled up the middle as a pinch hitter for Castro.
Rachel Smith, the Cowgirls' second reliever in the game, gave up a leadoff double to Sarah Ragsdale in the seventh. Smith then got Lamar's heart of the lineup, Sain and Meewsen to ground out the short for the first two outs before getting Hankins to pop out to Vincent at first to end the game.
Vincent picked up the win to improve to 12-5 on the season. She gave up six runs on six hits in 4 2/3 innings and struck out three. Smith picked up her first save of the season in two innings of work and gave up only one hit.
