LAKE CHARLES—McNeese softball completed its Southland Conference series sweep over Lamar (4-30, 0-11 SLC) Saturday with an 8-0 (5 inn.) win in the first game of a doubleheader then closed out the series with a 2-1 win in the series finale. The conference series win is the second straight for the Cowgirls who swept Texas A&M-Corpus Christi last weekend.
McNeese (17-19, 8-4 SLC) picked up 15 hits on the day including six extra base hits, five of which came in the first game. Ten different players picked up at least one hit on the day.
Chloe Gomez,
Kaylee Lopez,
Haylee Brinlee,
Alayis Seneca,
Tayler Strother, and
Jil Poullard all had one double apiece on the day.
In the opening game, McNeese broke a scoreless game with three runs in the third inning on RBI's by Gomez that scored McCrary. McCrary singled then stole second before coming home to score for a 1-0 lead. A double by Perrin scored Gomez then a two out single by
Aaliyah Ortiz scored Perrin for a 3-0 lead.
McNeese matched the third inning with three more runs on three hits in the fourth inning. Back-to-back doubles by Seneca and Strother put the Cowgirls up 4-0. Strother then went to third on a sac bunt by Poullard before scoring on a wild pitch to give the Cowgirls a 5-0 lead. Gomez then drew a walk, stole second and scored on a Lopez double for the 6-0 lead.
The Cowgirls ended the game with two more runs in the fifth inning. The Cowgirls took advantage a few wild pitches and a RBI double by Brinlee that scored Ortiz, who drew a leadoff walk before scoring on Brinlee's double for a 7-0 lead.
After a Lamar pitching change, Seneca singled to left center and Strother drew a walk before pinch hitter
Amy Reed singled to right center for the game winning RBI for the 8-0 run-rule win.
Whitney Tate improved to 6-7 on the year with the complete game shutout victory. Tate allowed only two hits and didn't allow a walk with five strikeouts.
In the series finale, Lamar took an early 1-0 lead in the fourth inning on a Nicolette Ramirez solo homerun off Cowgirl starter
Ashley Vallejo. Vallejo retired nine of the first ten batters she faced before giving up her first hit. She allowed one walk to the lead-off batter in the second inning.
McNeese responded after giving up the run in the fourth inning by scoring two runs in the fifth to take a 2-1 lead. Seneca reached on a Lamar error to start the fifth then back-to-back hits by Strother and Poullard allowed Seneca to score to tie the game at one apiece.
With Strother going to third on Poullard's double, McCrary flew out to left field and Strother tagged up and scored the go ahead run for a 2-1 Cowgirl lead.
After giving up the home run, Vallejo continued her solid pitching performance and allowed one more walk and one other hit out of the next 12 batters she faced. She was replaced by
Saleen Flores with two outs in the seventh inning with the tying run on second base. Flores struck out pinch hitter Hannah Williams to end the game.
McNeese will remain home to host Louisiana Tech on Wednesday. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.
