RUSTON— The McNeese softball bats came alive here Sunday in the Cowgirls 6-2 win over Northern Iowa and 13-7 win over Louisiana Tech at the Louisiana Tech Classic.
The 13 runs and 17 hits against LA Tech is the most by McNeese this season. The 13 runs are the most runs scored by McNeese since the Cowgirls scored 14 against Northwestern State in 2016 and the 17 hits is the most McNeese has scored since scoring 15 against Central Arkansas in 2015.
McNeese (7-9) picked up 25 hits including five home runs on the day. The Cowgirls entered the day with a combined seven home runs in the previous 14 games.
All-American
Erika Piancastelli hit her first two home runs of the season with one in each game. Also hitting home runs was
Morgan Catron,
Tori Yanitor and
Hailey Drew. The long balls for Catron and Yanitor is their team lead fourth on the season.
Piancastelli,
Alexandria Saldivar and Drew all led McNeese with four hits on the day.
In the opening game against Northern Iowa (7-6), McNeese took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on a solo home run by Piancastelli, her first of the season. The Cowgirls held that lead until the fifth inning when the Panthers tied the game at one all on a solo home run of their own by Bailey Lange.
McNeese broke the game open in the top of the seventh by scoring five runs on four hits including a two run double by Catron and a two RBI home run by Yanitor.
Carleigh Chaumont led the inning off with a single then crossed the plate on a
Hailey Drew single up the middle. After a fly out right by Piancastelli and a stolen base by Drew, Catron and Yanitor did their damage with back-to-back hits to extend the Cowgirl lead to 6-1.
UNI got one run back in the bottom of the seventh with a leadoff homerun by Courtney Krodinger.
Alexsandra Flores would give up a single to left to the next batter before getting Lange to fly out for the first out. McNeese ended the game by turning a double play to take the game 6-2.
Flores improved to 2-2 on the year with the complete game, giving up two runs on four hits and one strikeout.
McNeese ended the game with eight hits, one hit coming from eight different players. Piancastelli, Catron and Yanitor's hits were extra base hits.
In the nightcap against LA Tech (11-5), McNeese took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on a triple by pitcher
Rachel Smith that scored Saldivar who reached on a single. A single by Drew scored Smith.
McNeese added a single run in the third on a solo homerun by Catron, her second of the day to give McNeese a 3-0 lead.
Louisiana Tech cut into the Cowgirl lead in the bottom of the inning. With two outs, Tech scored two runs on four hits to cut the McNeese lead to 3-2.
LA Tech added a run in the fourth on two hits to tie the game at three all. The game didn't stay tied for long as McNeese took a 5-3 lead on Drew and Piancastelli's back-to-back solo home runs to open the fifth inning.
Tech got one run back in the fifth when Taria Tufl tripled to right center with one out and scored on a Katie Smith single to left to cut the McNeese lead to 5-4.
McNeese blew the game open with six runs on four hits in the sixth inning to take an 11-4 lead. The Cowgirls batted around in the inning and saw its fourth Tech pitcher enter the game.
A bases loaded single by Tech's Page in the bottom of the sixth inning plated two to cut the McNeese lead to 11-6. Smith got out of the inning by striking out Ali Galaz with runners on the corners.
The Cowgirls got those two runs back in the top of the seventh on a two RBI double by Piancastelli that scored Drew and pinch runner
Megan Trahan for a 13-6 lead.
Tech scored one run in the bottom of the seventh off a wild pitch by Cowgirl reliever
Jolie Trahan for a 13-7 lead. Trahan got Jaz Crowder to ground out the Drew at short to end the game.
Smith improved to 2-3 on the year with the win. Smith gave us four runs on six hits and struck out six in six complete innings.
McNeese will return to Cowgirl Diamond on Tuesday, Feb. 28 to host South Alabama in a single game beginning at 1 p.m.
