LAKE CHARLES—The McNeese softball team will take part in its final regular season tournament beginning Thursday at the Texas Tech Invitational. The Cowgirls were scheduled to play at North Texas Wednesday but due to a scheduling conflict, the game has been canceled. Live Stat links for the tournament can be found on mcneesesports.com.
 
McNeese (10-3) is coming off a 3-1 record at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Classic last weekend that saw the Cowgirls pick up its second win over a ranked team this season with an 8-4 win over 23^rd ranked Mississippi State last Friday. The Cowgirls also picked up wins over Jackson State and Southern Miss before concluding tournament play with a 3-0 loss to Mississippi State.
 
The Cowgirls will face Ohio University (6-3) at 6 p.m. Thursday. Friday's schedule has McNeese taking on UTSA (6-9) at 12:30 p.m. and Texas Tech (6-10) at 5:30 p.m. McNeese will face Southland Conference member Stephen F. Austin at 10 a.m. Saturday before concluding tournament play in a 12:30 p.m. game against Texas Tech.
 
All-American catcher Erika Piancastelli continues to lead McNeese at the plate with a .410 batting average, 16 hits, five home runs, 10 walks, and 15 runs scored. Sophomore second baseman Hailey Drew is batting .394 with 13 hits including a team high four doubles. Junior Marisa Taunton is batting .387 in the lead off spot with 12 hits and eight stolen bases. Emily Vincent is batting .342 and senior outfielder Taylor Schmidt is batting .310. Tori Yanitor has 11 hits on the season with a .262 average. Schmidt and Yanitor lead McNeese with nine RBI apiece.  
 
In the circle, the Cowgirl pitching staff is seeing innings thrown from all four pitchers. Vincent, when she isn't playing first base is in the circle. Coming off back-to-back Southland Conference player of the week honors as pitcher of the week last week and hitter of the week this week, leads the staff with a 3-0 record in seven appearances. She has one save with a 2.00 ERA in 28.0 innings with a staff high 36 strikeouts. Two of Vincent's wins this season have come against SEC opponents (Ole Miss, Miss. State). Jamie Allred is 3-1 on the season with a 2.69 ERA with 34 strikeouts. Rachel Smith is 2-1 with a 1.29 ERA and Jolie Trahan is 1-1 with a 1.71 ERA in 16.1 innings.