LAKE CHARLES--  McNeese softball will travel to Mobile, Alabama this weekend to take part in the South Alabama Mardi Gras Invitational that begins Friday and runs through Sunday.
 
The Cowgirls will open tournament action against Jackson State (1-5) at 12 p.m. Friday. Jackson State is coming off a doubleheader loss at Nicholls on Wednesday. McNeese will face Butler at 4:30 p.m. and South Alabama at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Cowgirls will conclude tournament play against Murray State at 11:30 a.m. Sunday.
 
McNeese (3-4) is coming off a 3-0 home loss to ULM on Wednesday night that snapped a nine game home winning streak. The Cowgirls were held to two hits, one each coming from Carleigh Chaumont and Taylor Schmidt.
 
Juniors Erika Piancastelli, Morgan Catron and Shanice Hagler all lead McNeese with a .333 batting average. Piancastelli and Catron both have seven hits on the season. Senior Tori Yanitor has the only homeruns of the season for the Cowgirls with two, both were three run homeruns last weekend against Penn State. Yanitor also leads the team with eight RBI and has five hits while Hailey Drew has a team best three doubles.
 
In the circle, seniors Rachel Smith and Baylee Corbello along with junior Jolie Trahan are 1-1. Freshman Alexsandra Flores is 0-1 on the season with a 1.91 ERA. Smith enters the weekend with a 2.06 ERA, Trahan has a 2.63 ERA and Corbello has a 4.30 ERA. Smith and Corbello both have seven strikeouts to their credit while Trahan has six.
 
Livestats will be provided for all tournament games. All links can be found on the softball schedule page on mcneesesports.com.