TROY, AL.-- The McNeese softball team opened up the Troy Classic Friday with a 2-1 win over Ole Miss before ending the first day of action with a 4-3 win over Eastern Illinois. McNeese will face Eastern Illinois again at 1 p.m. Saturday and Troy in a 5 p.m. game.
"Anytime you come out with two wins in a day, it's a good one," said head coach
Joanna Hardin. "Emily and Jamie threw very well today and the offense came through when we needed them to."
Cowgirl starter
Emily Vincent tied a career high with 13 strikeouts and McNeese capitalized on three Rebel miscues in the opening game victory. McNeese miss several opportunities to score, leaving 12 base runners stranded on six hits. The Cowgirls left the bases loaded in the second inning and at least one runner on base in all but the fifth inning.
McNeese took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Marissa Taunton came around to score on a single to left by
Hailey Drew. Ole Miss came back to tie the game in the fifth on a RBI sacrifice bunt by Sara Van Schalk that scored Paige McKinney.
After a scoreless sixth and seventh inning by the Rebels who were retired in order by Cowgirl starter
Emily Vincent, McNeese who was serving as the home team began the bottom of the seventh with
Taylor Schmidt advancing all the way to third on a throwing error. Both Vincent and
Tori Yanitor were intentionally walked to load the bases.
Taylor Goree hit a grounder to third baseman
Dakota Matiko who fielded the ball clean by the throw at home was wide allowing Schmidt to score the game-winning run.
"We were able to capitalize on a few miscues but that's part of the game. We were fortunate to take advantage of them."
Taunton led the Cowgirls at the plate with two hits in her first start of the season.
Erika Piancastelli, Schmidt,
Taylor Goree and Drew all picked up one hit apiece. Piancastelli tripled in the fourth and Goree doubled to center in the third.
Vincent (1-0) picked up her first win of the season with a complete game. Vincent allowed two hits and one unearned run with one walk.
"Emily was on point. She had a great rhythm and kept them off balance all day. She's worked very hard for these games so it's fun to watch her compete out there," said Hardin.
McNeese ended the first day of competition with a 4-3 win over Eastern Illinois. The Cowgirls once again took an early lead with three runs in the bottom of the third inning. McNeese opened the inning with three straight hits on a double by Drew and singles by Piancastelli and Taunton. Taunton's single up the middle brought Drew home for the 1-0 Cowgirl lead. Vincent scored Piancastelli on a bases loaded walk for a 2-0 lead. After Taunton was thrown out at home on a fielder's choice, Goree's sacrifice fly to left scored Vincent for the third run of the inning.
A run in the fifth by Taunton would eventually prove to be the winning run. Taunton reached all the way to third on an error and scored on a sacrifice bunt by Schmidt for a 4-0 Cowgirl lead.
Eastern Illinois would make things interesting when the Panthers cut the Cowgirl lead to 4-3 off a three-run home run by April Marowski. Maria DeVito was hit by a pitch and Haylee Bech went to first on a catcher's interference call with one out. Vincent replace starter
Jamie Allred in the circle and got the final two outs to end the game to pick up her first save of the season. Allred struck out eight, gave up three runs and walked three in 6 1/3 innings.
"Eastern Illinois is really scrappy. They competed every inning and every out. Tomorrow they will be ready for us so we need to evaluate our game against them today and make some adjustments.
McNeese will face Eastern Illinois again on Saturday at 1 p.m. and Troy at 5 p.m. before concluding tournament play against Tennessee Tech at 9:30 a.m. Sunday.
"Overall, I think we are much better than we showed today. This game is funny; anyone can be beat on any given day. We need to come out and compete for 14 innings on Saturday," Hardin said.
