LAKE CHARLES— McNeese softball split its games here Friday on the first day of the Carl Vincent State Farm Invitational, defeating Austin Peay 11-9 before falling to Illinois-Chicago 5-3.  The Cowgirls fall to 6-3 overall heading into day two of the tournament.  Saturday's schedule has been altered due to possible inclement weather.  All Saturday games have been moved up an hour.

McNeese opened tournament play with an 11-9 win against Austin Peay.  The Cowgirls scored at least one run in five of six innings.  McNeese took an early 1-0 lead, but the Govs scored four runs on a grand slam by Kiley Hinton to take a 4-1 lead.

McNeese retook the lead (6-4) with five runs in the second including a solo homerun by Onna Pruitt, her first of the season.  The Govs pulled to within one run in the third with a single run on a sacrifice fly by Natalie Burns.

The Cowgirls scored two runs in the bottom half of the inning to lead 8-5 then added two more runs in the fourth and one in the fifth to lead 11-5.  Austin Peay scored a run in the fifth and three more in the seventh to pull to within two 11-7.

With the tying run on deck, freshman Brookelyn Taylor got Mimi Blackledge to ground out to third to end the game.
In the nightcap, Illinois-Chicago took an early 1-0 lead in the third inning before scoring four more in the fourth for a 4-0 lead. 

McNeese avoided the shutout with a run in the bottom of the fourth on a RBI single by Rylee Cloud that scored Nyjah Fontenot.
McNeese added one run in the sixth on a Maddie Cloud walk and later scored on two wild pitches to cut the lead to 5-2. The Cowgirls missed an opportunity to tie the game with runners on first and third and at the heart of its lineup but Jada Munoz and Corine Poncho both struck out to end the threat.

After pitcher Brookelyn Taylor got the Cowgirls back into the dugout after retiring three of the four batters she faced in the seventh inning, McNeese had another chance to add runs and potentially win the game.  A fielder's choice by Nyjah Fontenot scored Malayna Daigle to pull the Cowgirls to within two runs. The Cowgirls had bases loaded with two outs and Maddie Taylor at the plate.  Taylor took three straight balls before a called strike.  She fouled off the next pitch to put the count at full.  Taylor swung at a ball high in the zone for the third strike to end the game.

McNeese picked up seven hits while the Flames picked up eight.  Both teams left six runners stranded.

REMAINING SCHEDULE
Saturday, Feb. 14
10 a.m. Austin Peay vs. Lamar
12:30 McNeese vs. Austin Peay
3 p.m. Illinois-Chicago vs. Lamar
5:30 p.m. McNeese vs. Illinois-Chicago

Sunday, Feb. 15
11 a.m. Austin Peay vs. Illinois-Chicago