NATCHITOCHES-- McNeese softball suffered its first conference loss of the season, falling 7-6 to Northwestern State in the opening game of a three-game series. The series will conclude with a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday that will stream on ESPN+.
McNeese (19-8, 3-1 SLC) scored first with a single run in their first at bat of the game when
Rylee Cloud scored on a Lady Demon error.
NW State (13-14, 3-1 SLC) tied the game with a run in the bottom of the first inning on a leadoff solo homerun by JT Smith. NW State added two more runs in the second to take a 3-1 lead.
Corine Poncho's sacrifice fly in the third inning pulled McNeese to within one run (3-2) then
Maddie Taylor's two run homerun in the fourth gave the Cowgirls a 4-3 lead. The Cowgirls extended their lead to 5-3 in the fifth on a solo homerun by
Nyjah Fontenot.
NW State pulled to within one run (5-4) in the bottom of the fifth on a sacrifice fly then tied the game at five all with another run in the sixth.
Fontenot came through again for the Cowgirls in the seventh with a RBI double to left field on a ball that hit the top of the wall but fell back into the playing field. Dibbley scored all the way from first on the play to give McNeese a 6-5 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh.
NW State began the seventh off with back-to-back singles by Makynlie Jones and Brynn Daniel. A sac bunt moved both players up one base to second and third. A wild pitch by Cowgirl pitcher
Kynlei Chapman allowed pinch runner Riley Schwisow to score and tie the game.
The Cowgirls made a pitching change, bringing
Maddie Taylor into the circle with one out. Taylor intentionally walked Sophia Livers and DJ Lynch to load the bases with one out and was looking to get a force out at home, but Sister Arnold singled to right field that scored Daniel from third to end the game.
McNeese collected seven hits in the game with
Nyjah Fontenot leading the way with two hits, both extra base hits- a homerun and a double. She also picked up two RBI's and scored one run.
The Cowgirls used five pitchers with
Brookelyn Taylor going 5.0 innings and allowing four runs, two walks and struck out two.
Kynlei Chapman took the loss, falling to 4-4 on the year. Chapman allowed two earned runs on two hits on 1/3 inning.
NW State picked up eight hits, six RBI along with five walks. Mattison Buster improved to 11-6 on the season with the complete game win. Buster allowed six runs on seven hits, two walks and struck out three.
