Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas—McNeese softball picked up a Southland Conference doubleheader win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi here Friday by the scores of 3-2 (9 inn.) and 6-1 to assure the Cowgirls of the series win. The teams will play a noon game Saturday in the series finale.
The wins even the Cowgirls' conference record at 4-4 on the year and 13-18 overall while the Islanders fall to 5-3 in league play and 14-13 overall.
In the opening game, the Cowgirls were down to their last strike with
Sara Geier on base. Jill Poullard sent the next pitch over the right centerfield wall to tie the game at two and sent the game into extra innings.
Padyn Williams' game winning RBI in the ninth scored
Toni Perrin to give the Cowgirls the series opening win.
After
Jenna Edwards held the Islanders scoreless in the 7
th and 8
th inning, McNeese's
Padyn Williams' RBI single to right center in the ninth scored Perrin from third after her leadoff triple that put the Cowgirls up 3-2.
Edwards got the next three Islanders to pop out to shortstop
Cori McCrary to end the game. Edwards improved to 3-1 on the year with the complete game win. She allowed six hits and struck out six.
McNeese picked up five hits in the game with three of them extra base hits. Besides Poullard's homerun and Perrin's triple,
Kaylee Lopez picked up a double.
The Islanders scored their runs in the second and third innings. The first run scored when Pal Egan stole home on a throw down to second base attempting to get the runner at first base attempting to steal but Cowgirl shortstop
Cori McCrary cut off the throw and threw home in an attempt to get Egan out at home but Egan slid in safely for the first run of the game.
TAMUCC took a 2-0 lead when Alie Alcantar scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by Ashleigh Sgambelluri. Cantar led the inning off with a single up the middle, stole second, then went to third on a sac bunt before scoring.
McNeese struggled all game to get runners home as they left five base runners on base prior to the seventh inning.
Poullard came through for the Cowgirls in the seventh when down to her last strike and with a runner on first, Poullard tied the game with a two-run homerun to right center giving the Cowgirls life. The homerun is only her second of her career.
The two runs are the first runs given up by the Islanders in their last five games. TAMUCC entered the series outscoring their opponents 32-0 in those games.
McNeese took a 3-2 lead in the top of the ninth when Perrin drove a ball to the left centerfield wall for a leadoff triple then
Padyn Williams' game winning RBI single to right scored Perrin.
In the nightcap, McNeese took a 1-0 lead in the second inning but missed an opportunity to add more runs when the Cowgirls picked up for straight singles and scored on a bases loaded RBI single by Williams that scored
Kaylee Lopez who led the inning off with a single. The Cowgirls weren't able push anymore runs across the plate that inning.
McNeese extended its lead to 3-0 in the fourth inning on an RBI triple by Perrin that scored Lopez who led the inning off with a single. The triple was Perrin's second of the day. single. Perrin scored on a ground out by Williams to give McNeese a 3-0 lead.
The Cowgirls added to their lead with three more runs in the seventh to extend their lead 6-0. McNeese started the inning with three straight hits including a double to left by
Caleigh Cross. A
Chloe Gomez single to short scored Poullard, a single to right by Lopez scored Cross, and a sacrifice fly to centerfield by
Haylee Brinlee scored Gomez for the three Cowgirl runs.
TAMU-CC avoided the shutout by scoring a run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh when Sammi Thomas singled up the middle then scored on a single and a two base Cowgirl.
Whitney Tate picked up the complete game win to improve to 5-7 on the year after allowing one unearned run on six hits, one walk and two strikeouts.
The Cowgirls picked up 10 hits in the game with Lopez going 3 for 4 with one RBI. Williams led with two RBI in the game.
