LAKE CHARLES—Two of the nation's top teams in stolen bases and two teams that will be playing for a Southland Conference regular season title will meet at Joe Miller Field this weekend when McNeese and Southeastern Louisiana play their final regular season SLC series. The series will begin with a doubleheader at 5 p.m. Friday and will conclude with a single game at noon on Saturday. All games will be streamed and live stats will be available on mcneesesports.com.
 
This weekend also marks the final home games for six seniors (Shanice Hagler, Shelbi Strickland, Hailey Drew, Morgan Catron, Erika Piancastelli and Carleigh Chaumont) who will be honored following Saturday's doubleheader.
 
Friday's game has been designated as First Responders Day. Any first responder with and ID/badge will be admitted free.
 
The stakes are high for both teams as for as the conference regular season title is concerned but both teams will need help from other teams in order to come away with the title. Nicholls and Stephen F. Austin are also in the hunt for the title. Nicholls will host Lamar and Stephen F. Austin will host Abilene Christian.
 
McNeese (34-18, 16-8) will look to win its third consecutive Southland Conference title and fifth in the last six years. The last team to win three straight titles was Texas State from 2008-2010.
 
The Cowgirls enter the game ranked third in the nation in stolen bases with at 2.40 per game while the Lady Lions lead the nation with 3.27 per game.
 
Junior Justyce McClain continues to lead McNeese with a .424 batting average, 72 hits, and 50 runs scored and 23 stolen bases.
 
Senior Erika Piancastelli who broke her fourth Southland Conference career record this season, last weekend in her first at bat at Stephen F. Austin with her 70^th career home run. She leads the team with 18 home runs, 16 doubles, 49 walks, a .873 slugging percent and a .523 on base percent. She is second on the team with a .366 batting average, 45 runs scored and 52 hits.
 
Also batting over .300 is senior Morgan Catron who comes into the weekend with a .322 average with 47 hits, 11 home runs, seven doubles, 44 RBI and 27 walks.
 
The rest of the senior class including Carleigh Chaumont is batting .275 with 30 hits, nine doubles, one triple, three home runs, 14 RBI and 23 walks. Shanice Hagler has a .184 average with seven hits, four RBI, one double, one triple, and three walks. Shelbi Strickland is batting .129 with four hits, five runs scored and seven walks. Hailey Drew, who suffered a season ending knee injury during the Northwestern State series was batting .308 with 24 hits, six doubles, two triples, one home run, 15 RBI and 21 walks at the time of her injury. 
 
Alexsandra Flores leads the pitching staff with a 16-8 record, a 2.89 ERA, 140.1 innings, and 78 strikeouts.
 
Southeastern La. (34-17, 17-7 SLC) will be playing for its first conference title in program history this weekend. The Lady Lions enter the weekend having won 11 of their last 11 games including last weekend's SLC series sweep at Sam Houston State.
 
Five players are currently batting over .300 with Alli Daigle leading the team with a .348 average. Kinsey Nichols (.341), Ali McCoy (.321), Mahalia Gibson (.314), and Rebecca Skains (.301) also have over a .300 average. Gibson leads SE La. with 49 hits, 11 home runs, and 53 RBI while Maddie Edmonston leads the team and ranks ninth in the nation with 39 stolen bases. She is one of three players with 30 or more stolen bases on the season. Nichols has 34 stolen bases and Jaquelyn Ramon has 30. As a team, SE La. has 167 stolen bases this season.
 
Rachel Hayes and Lacey Hill have done the bulk of the pitching for SE La. Hayes is 15-7 with a 2.22 ERA, four shutouts, and 79 strikeouts in 132.1 innings. Hill is 11-5 with a 3.13 ERA in 87.1 innings. She has 43 strikeouts to her credit.