LAKE CHARLES—McNeese softball will travel to Nacogdoches, Texas this weekend for a Southland Conference series at Stephen F. Austin looking to clinch a SLC tournament spot. The series will begin with a single game at 6 p.m. Friday then will conclude with a doubleheader Saturday at noon. Live stats will be provided and all three games will be streamed on Facebook Live. Links can be found on mcneesesports.com.
 
Both McNeese (33-16, 15-6 SLC) and Stephen F. Austin (27-17, 15-6 SLC) are two of three teams heading into the weekend tied atop the league standings. Nicholls is also tied for the top spot with a 15-6 conference record heading into its series at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi this weekend.
 
McNeese, who has the best overall team batting average (.328) in the SLC, is coming off an SLC series sweep at Lamar last weekend by taking a doubleheader 6-4, 5-2 then ending the series with a 10-6 game three victory. The Cowgirls also lead the league in slugging percent, on base percent, runs scored, RBI, walks, and are tied with Nicholls in home runs.
 
Stephen F. Austin, who has the best team ERA (2.00) in conference games and is having its best season since 2010 and have already won 10 more games than last season. The Ladyjacks enter the game having won their last six games with three game sweeps over Houston Baptist and most recently Incarnate Word.
 
Junior Justyce McClain who has a .429 batting average, 69 hits, 47 runs scored, 22 walks and 22 stolen bases leads McNeese at the plate. Senior Erika Piancastelli leads the Cowgirls with 16 home runs, 15 doubles, 47 RBI and 41 walks and is second on the team with a .358 batting average. Senior Morgan Catron is batting .328 with 44 hits, 10 homers, 42 RBI and 26 walks.
 
Other Cowgirls batting over .300 are sophomore Brenique Wright who has a .311 average with 33 hits, 34 RBI, 23 walks and eight home runs. Designated player Alexandria Saldivar is batting .305 with 32 hits, 27 RBI, six doubles and five home runs.
 
Sophomore Alexsandra Flores leads the pitching staff with a 15-7 record and a 2.93 ERA. Flores has a team high 70 strikeouts in 126 2/3 innings. Freshmen Caroline Settle, Amber Coons and Ashley Koncir have all seen action in the circle as well.
 
Settle is 7-6 with a 4.28 ERA with 38 strikeouts, Coons is 6-2 with a 3.46 ERA and 40 strikeouts and Koncir is 5-1 with a 3.71 ERA with 17 strikeouts.
 
Bryana Novegil leads SFA at the plate with a .431 batting average, 56 hits, and five doubles. Margarita Corona, Amber Landry, and Taylor Fraccastoro all lead the team with seven home runs apiece. Fraccastoro also has a team high 10 doubles and 33 RBI. Landry has a team high 35 RBI.
 
Makayla Sikes and Callee Guffey have done the majority of the pitching for the Ladyjacks this season. Sikes is 16-6 overall with a 2.05 ERA with 107 strikeouts in 136.1 innings. Guffey is 8-8 on the year with a 3.38 ERA with 77 strikeouts in 87.0 innings.