Story by McNeese Sports Information and published on May 2, 1983

BEAUMONT, Texas - McNeese State's Cowgirls continued their blistering pace and won the Southland Conference women's softball title here this weekend. This is the first year the league issued a conference championship in the sport.
 
The Cowgirls, who have won nine of their last 10 games, came from behind to nip Texas-Arlington 4-3 in the championship game and pack off the first SLC softball title.
 
"It was a great victory for us," Coach Vicky Chapman said. "Coming into this tournament I don't think that anyone gave us much of a chance to win, but we have improved our play the last few weeks and it all culminated in our winning this."
 
The victory pulled the Cowgirls atop the .500 mark for the first time this season, giving them a 20-19 mark. They'll now await bids from the NCAA for the national women's softball playoffs.
 
In the SLC tournament, the Cowgirls went 4-0. They posted two victories Saturday, beating Southwestern Louisiana 2-0 in the semifinals and then taking UTA 4-3.
 
Laura Grifka hurled both victories for the Cowgirls.
 
In the Saturday night finale against UTA, the Cowgirls scored two runs in the fourth and two in the sixth after UTA had taken an early 3-0 lead.
 
A single by Lisa Stelly, a couple of UTA errors and a sacrifice fly by Alonda Guilbeau enabled McNeese to cash in two runs in the fourth. In the sixth, Dawn Thibodeaux led off with a single, stole second and went to third on a fly by Jan O'Friel. She then scored on a single by Tammy Guidry and Guidry later scored on a UTA error.
 
ADD ON: 1B Tammy Guidry earned all-conference honors to become the first of 45 Cowgirl softball players to garner first team all-SLC selections.
 
At the time, the NCAA Tournament only accepted eight teams into its field and the Cowgirls did not receive a bid.
 
1983 team members include: Jan O'Friel, Beth Rist, Colleen Bobbett, Olga Dupuis, Dawn Thibodeaux, Teresa McMillan, Laura Grifka, Lisa Stelly, Alonda Guilbeau, Tammy Guidry, Karen Simpson, Lynda Hale, Germaine Leger, Marcy Mayeux, Pam Mayet, Kristal Smith, Cheryl Guidry. Head coach Vicky Chapman.