LAKE CHARLES—McNeese softball will head west this weekend to take part in the San Diego Classic I hosted by both San Diego and San Diego State that begins Thursday.
McNeese (8-9) will open tournament action against Brigham Young at 3 p.m. (all times Central) then will take on San Diego State at 3:30 p.m. Friday's schedule has the Cowgirls beginning the day with a 11 a.m. game against San Jose State before tackling UC-Davis at 1:30 p.m. McNeese will conclude tournament play with an 12:30 p.m. game against Oregon State on Friday. Both BYU and San Diego State received votes in this week's USA Today/NFCA Top 25 poll.
The 1:30 p.m. Friday game against the Aztecs will be streamed live on
theMW.com. Live stats will be available for each game. Links can be found on the McNeese softball schedule page on mcneesesports.com.
The Cowgirls enter the weekend on a three game winning streak and playing with a lot of confidence since last weekend. McNeese is coming off a 7-1 home win over South Alabama that saw the Cowgirls hand the Jaguars their second loss of the season.
In the last three games, McNeese has outscored its opponents 26-10 and have outhit them 33-19. The top four Cowgirl hitters (
Hailey Drew,
Erika Piancastelli,
Morgan Catron,
Tori Yanitor), have hit a combined seven home runs and accumulated 21 of the 26 RBI during this span. Three of the four will be returning to their home state of California this weekend along with
Taylor Schmidt and
Megan Holmes.
Catron, the Southland Conference Hitter of the Week heads the offense with a .400 average, .745 slugging percent. Catron leads the team with 22 hits, 21 RBI and is tied for a team best five homeruns.
Yanitor enters the weekend with a .305 average, 18 hits, 17 RBI and also has five homeruns on the season.
Piancastelli is batting .298 with 14 hits and has a team high 18 walks while Drew is batting .271 with 13 hits and 10 RBI.
During this winning streak, the pitching staff has produced a 2.33 ERA with freshman
Alexsandra Flores picking up two of the three wins. Flores is 3-2 on the year with a 2.15 ERA and 19 strikeouts. Senior
Rachel Smith is 2-3 on the year with a 2.49 ERA with a team high 26 strikeouts.
Brigham Young, a member of the West Coast Conference enters the weekend with a 7-5 record and is coming off a 2-3 showing at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic last weekend.
