LAKE CHARLES—McNeese softball, coming off midweek victories over South Alabama and UL-Monroe will head to Youngsville this weekend to take part in the Mardi Mambo hosted by Southeastern Louisiana.
 
The 13-team tournament will take place at the Youngsville Sports Complex and the Cowgirls will open tournament play at 1 p.m. Friday against Middle Tennessee. McNeese will face Detroit Mercy at 7 p.m. Saturday and will conclude tournament play with a 12 p.m. game against Jacksonville State.
 
Live stats will be available for all Cowgirl games and the link can be found on mcneesesports.com.
 
McNEESE NOTES
•- head into the weekend with a 10-2 record
•- coming off two home wins this week (South Alabama, UL-Monroe)
•- are 3-0 against Middle Tennessee with the last meeting coming in a 7-3 win at the NISC Regional Tournament in Nacogdoches, Texas.
•- It will be the first meeting against Detroit Mercy and the second against Jacksonville State. McNeese holds a 1-0 record against Jacksonville State with the Cowgirls winning the first meeting 5-3 in 1999 at the Southern Miss Spring Classic.
 
THE COWGIRL OFFENSE
•- The Cowgirls enter the Mardi Gras Mambo with .277 team batting average, 79 hits, 38 walks, and 35 steals
•- have outscored the opponents 63-14
•- The 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th innings have been where the Cowgirls score their runs. They have combined to outscore their opponents 44-5 in those innings.
•- freshman Caylon Brabham leads the team with a .417 batting average, 10 hits, six doubles, and six RBI
•-sophomore Haylee Brinlee and senior Brenique Wright lead the team with two home runs apiece.
•- senior Lauren Brown tops the team with eight stolen bases  
 
IN THE CIRCLE
•- McNeese returns four of five pitchers from last season. The only newcomer is freshman Whitney Tate
•-As a staff, the Cowgirls have a 0.72 ERA which ranks the Cowgirls second in the nation following Wednesday night's game against UL-Monroe. They have given up only eight earned runs in the first 12 games.
• The staff also ranks fourth in the nation in shutouts with five.
•- Saleen Flores leads the staff with a 3-1 record and is second on the team with 13 strikeouts
•- Caroline Settle has a staff low 0.74 ERA and is 2-0 in 19.0 innings
•- Whitney Tate is also 2-0 with a 0.68 ERA in 10.1 innings
•- Alexsandra Flores is 2-1 with a 0.97 ERA in 21.2 innings. Alex leads the staff with 15 strikeouts
•- Ashley Koncir is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 8.2 innings
 
ABOUT MIDDLE TENNESSEE
•- member of C-USA
•- Cowgirls lead the all-time series 3-0
•- enter the weekend with a 5-7 record and have lost their last three games including a 9-0 (6 inn.) home game lost to No. 13 Kentucky
•- have three players batting over .300 with Lexi Cushing leading the team with a .441 average, 15 hits, eight home runs, and 12 runs
 
ABOUT DETROIT MERCY
•- member of the Horizon league
•- will be the first meeting against Detroit Mercy
•- enter the weekend 0-8 on the year and looking for their first win of the season
•- seven of their eight games have been against teams that were ranked or received votes in the weekly polls
•- opened the season at the Florida State Tournament, then took part in the Arizona State Tournament last weekend
 
JACKSONVILLE STATE
•- member of the Ohio Valley Conference
•- first meeting against Jacksonville State
•- enter the weekend with a 3-5 record
•- coming off a 20-9 (6 inn.) win over College of Charleston at the Coastal Caroline Battle at the Beach last weekend