LAKE CHARLES—The McNeese softball team will travel to Houston, Texas this weekend for a Southland Conference series at Houston Baptist beginning with a 4 p.m. game Thursday and ending with a doubleheader at 11 a.m. Friday. All games will be streamed live and live stats will also be available. Links can be found on mcneesesports.com.
McNeese (19-6, 6-0 SLC) has won five of its six games by run-rule including two against Texas A&M-Corpus Christ last weekend. The Cowgirls have outscored its Southland opponents 60-7 and have outhit them 60-19 in the first six games. The pitching staff has a 1.44 combined ERA, having given up only seven earned runs.
Sophomore
Erika Piancastelli and junior
Marisa Taunton are both hitting over .400. Piancastelli has a .431 average and leads the team with 11 home runs, 26 RBI, 28 runs scored, 19 walks and is tied for a team best 31 hits.
Taunton leads the squad with 12 stolen bases, two triples and is tied in hits with Piancastelli. She is second with 22 runs scored and 16 RBI.
Three other Cowgirls are hitting .300 or better with
Hailey Drew hitting .359,
Taylor Goree (.315), and
Justyce McClain (.305). Drew leads the Cowgirls with seven doubles and is 11 for 11 in stolen bases.
The pitching staff is led by
Emily Vincent's 1.75 overall ERA. Vincent is 6-2 on the season but has a 0.54 ERA in conference games only.
Jamie Allred is 7-1 on the season with a 1.40 ERA and
Rachel Smith is 5-1 with a 2.10 ERA in SLC games. Both Smith and Vincent are coming off no-hitters against TAMU-CC last weekend.
Houston Baptist (10-12, 2-4 SLC) is coming off a SLC series loss at NW State last weekend. The Huskies won the first game of the series 10-6 before dropping the next two 5-0 and 5-2.
Savana Guidry leads HBU with a .369 average, 24 hits, nine stolen bases and 14 runs scored. Laci Belovsky and Shannon O'Connor have been splitting most of the pitching duties. Belovsky is 6-6 on the season with a 3.87 ERA and 26 strikeouts. O'Connor is 2-5 with a 6.17 ERA and 19 strikeouts.
