LAKE CHARLES – It was a record-breaking night for the Southland Conference champion McNeese Cowgirls in its opening round of the 2016 SLC Softball Tournament.
 
Two-time Southland player of the year Erika Piancastelli set a new McNeese and conference single-season record with two runs scored giving her a record 62 on the season. But the one record Piancastelli and the rest of the Cowgirls care about the most, McNeese notched its 40^th win of the season after the team's 8-2 win over Stephen F. Austin in the team's opening game of the tournament. That win total matches a school record set by the 2014 squad that was also the league regular season champion but fell in the championship game of the postseason tournament.
 
The Cowgirls (40-12) now advance to face No. 3-seed Lamar (34-20) at 4 p.m. on Thursday with the winner moving into Friday's championship game. SFA (26-28), who upset No. 4 Central Arkansas 4-3 earlier in the day, will take on rival and 6^th-seed Sam Houston State in an elimination game at 11 a.m.
 
After a couple scoreless innings to start the game, the Cowgirls got on the board in the bottom of the third inning and never looked back.
 
Marisa Taunton got things going by reaching on a wild pitch on a strikeout. Piancastelli followed with her with a walk, and like she's done so effectively the last few weeks, Morgan Catron made the Ladyjacks pay for putting on Piancastelli with a three-run home run over the left field wall to give the Cowgirls a 3-0 lead.
 
The Ladyjacks got a couple of runs back in the top of the fourth on Taylor Fraccastoro's no-out, two-run blast over the left-centerfield wall but that didn't seem to rattle starting pitcher Emily Vincent as she got the next three batters out in order, the last two on strikeouts.
 
Vincent (15-3) worked out of a similar jam in the fifth inning after allowing runners on first and second with one out, then fanned the next two batters.
 
That rolled into a five-run fifth for the Cowgirls to put the game away.
 
Taunton and Piancastelli led off the inning with back-to-back singles while Catron walked to load the bases. Haley Drew reached on an error by SFA shortstop Courtney Chambers but also scored Taunton in the process to make it 4-2.
 
Tori Yanitor's fly out to centerfield scored Piancastelli to make it 5-2 while three more runs followed after a couple more Ladyjack errors.
 
Vincent threw the complete game, allowing just four hits with one of her two runs allowed being earned. She also struck out seven and walked two.
 
The Cowgirls put five hits on the board with Catron getting two of those along with a team-high three RBI.
 
Makayla Sikes (7-12) took the loss for the Ladyjacks after allowing eight runs, six earned, on five hits. She walked six and struckout one.
 
SFA finished the night with four hits, two of those off the bat of Fraccastoro.
 
In earlier action on the day, Lamar defeated Sam Houston State 6-2 then No. 2 Nicholls 7-2 to advance to play McNeese at 4 on Thursday in a winner's bracket game. And prior to SFA's loss to the Cowgirls, the Ladyjacks edged out Central Arkansas 4-3.
 
Thursday's slate of games will get underway at 11 a.m. with SFA facing Sam Houston State in an elimination game. Nicholls and UCA will follow with another elimination contest at 1:30 then the Cowgirls and Lamar will play. The winner of the SHSU/SFA game will play the winner of the Nicholls/UCA contest at 6:30 to close out the day's schedule.