2016 TOURNAMENT BRACKET

LAKE CHARLES—McNeese softball will attempt to win its fourth Southland Conference Tournament Championship and what better place to do that than Cowgirl Diamond, home of the 2016 Southland Conference Tournament.
 
McNeese, winners of three of the last four regular season titles, is making its 27^th tournament appearance and will serve as the tournament host for only the second time. McNeese hosted the tournament for the first time in 2009, falling short of the tournament title in a 2-1 loss to Texas State in the championship game. The Cowgirls, who earned a first round bye, will face the winner of the 1:30 p.m. game between no. 4 seed Central Arkansas and the no. 5 Stephen F. Austin at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.
 
Lamar, the no. 3 seed will take on no. 6 seed Sam Houston State in the opening game of the tournament at 11 a.m. No. 2 seed Nicholls also earned a first round bye, will play the winner of the Lamar/Sam Houston State game at 4 p.m.
 
McNeese hasn't has the best of luck in the previous three tournaments and have a 2-6 record in the past three tournaments heading into Wednesday's game. In 2013 and 2015 the Cowgirls were eliminated following two straight losses. In 2014, in a tournament where the weather wrecked havoc in Hammond saw the Cowgirls advance to the championship game only to fall 11-0 to Northwestern State.
 
Thursday's action will also get underway at 11 a.m. with the finals set for 2 p.m. Friday. If a second game is necessary Friday, the start time of that game will be determined sometime Friday. The tournament champion will earn the SLC's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
 
The first nine games of the tournament will be streamed live on the Southland Conference Digital Network, including Southland.org/watch and the league's mobile and tablet apps. The championship round will be an exclusive presentation of ESPN3, available via WatchESPN.com and the ESPN app.
 
Adult all-tournament passes are available for $21 and $11 for youth. Tickets will also be available for each day of the tournament. A single-day pass is $11 for adults and $6 for youth. For ticket purposes, a youth is any child ages 5-17. All students from Southland Conference schools will receive free admission with a valid student ID, and all children ages four and younger will also be admitted free. Tickets can be purchased at the entrance of Cowgirl Diamond.
 
McNeese (39-12) is one win away from tying the school record of 40 wins set by the 2014 team that ended the season with a 40-17 overall record.
 
Senior pitcher Jamie Allred is one win away from becoming McNeese's career victories leader. Allred enters the tournament with 67 wins, tying the record held by Megan Bond who pitched for the Cowgirls from 2010-2013. Allred, the all-SLC second team selection is 16-3 on the season with a 1.62 ERA and 105 strikeouts in 121 innings.
 
The Cowgirls are led on offense by the two-time Southland Conference player and hitter of the year sophomore Erika Piancastelli. Piancastelli, who became the McNeese career homerun leader in the regular season finale against Central Arkansas is batting .403 with 52 hits, 12 doubles, 21 homeruns, 42 RBI and 59 walks.
 
Piancastelli is getting offensive help from her teammates who have picked up some of the slack in recent games.
 
 Junior Marisa Taunton has a .358 average with 22 stolen bases while Morgan Catron and Hailey Drew are both batting .333. Both players are one-two in hit-by-pitches. Catron has been hit 27 times this season and Drew has been hit 18 times. 
 
Emily Vincent, who has been stellar in the circle, is batting .305 with 32 RBI. Vincent is 14-3 in the circle with a 1.66 ERA and 137 strikeouts.
 
Freshman Justyce McClain has a .365 average with 25 hits and 21 RBI while senior shortstop Taylor Goree leads McNeese with 13 doubles and has a .268 average.
 
McNeese is coming off a SLC series sweep over UCA last weekend to capture the Southland Conference title. McNeese faced Stephen F. Austin once during the season at Texas Tech Invitational on March 5. The Cowgirls came away with an 8-1 win. 
 
2016 Southland Conference Tournament Schedule
Wed., May 11
(G1) 11 a.m.- No. 3 Lamar vs. No. 6 Sam Houston State
(G2) 1:30 p.m.- No. 4 Central Arkansas vs. No. 5 Stephen F. Austin
(G3) 4 p.m.- No. 2 Nicholls vs. G1 Winner
(G4) 6:30 p.m.- No. 1 McNeese vs. G2 Winner
 
Thur., May 12
(G5) 11 a.m.- Loser G1 vs. Loser G4
(G6) 1:30 p.m.- Loser G2 vs. Loser G3
(G7) 4 p.m.- Winner G3 vs. Winner G4
(G8) 6:30 p.m.- Winner G5 vs. Winner G6
 
Fri., May 13
(G9) 10:30 a.m.- Loser G7 vs. Winner G8
(G10) 2 p.m.- Winner G7 vs. Winner G9
*(G11) TBA
*-If necessary