CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas—McNeese opened its Southland Conference softball series at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi with an 8-4 win on Friday.  The series will conclude with a 12 p.m. doubleheader Saturday.

McNeese (24-17, 8-8 SLC) took a 6-2 lead with three runs in the first, one in the second and two in the third.  The Islanders (10-30, 4-12 SLC) scored two runs in the first inning, one in the fourth and one in the fifth to pull two within two runs (6-4).

The Cowgirls added two insurance runs in the sixth and held the Islanders scoreless in the seventh.

Maddy Taylor improved to 8-4 overall with the complete game win.  Taylor allowed four runs on five hits, struck out four and walked three.

The Cowgirls collected 11 hits with three extra base hits.  Rylee Cloud and Meiko Dominguez led McNeese with two hits apiece.
 
SCORING
T1- McNeese took an early lead with three runs on three hits.  Maddie Taylor's two RBI triple scored Kassidy Chand and Maddie Weeks for the first two runs of the game.  Alexis Dibbley singled up the middle to score Taylor (McN 3, AMCC 0)
B1- The Islanders scored two runs on one hit and one Cowgirl error. The Islanders leadoff hitter Jada Zepeda led the game off with a walk and scored all the way from first on a Cowgirl error. Zapeda scored on a single to right by Mimi Thornton. McN 3, AMCC 2)
T2- Cowgirls add a run on a single to the pitcher that scored Jada Munoz from third (McN 4, AMCC 2)
T3- Rylee Cloud led the inning off with a solo homerun, her sixth of the season.  The Cowgirls added another run on a pass ball (McN 6, AMCC 2).
B4- The Islanders added a single run off a RBI single to centerfield by Erynne Castillo (McN 6, AMCC-3)
B5- A leadoff triple by Zoey Stewart resulted in her scoring on a RBI single by Mimi Thornton (McN 6, AMCC- 4)
T6- After two scoreless innings, McNeese scored two runs on a Gwinn Hall pinch hit two RBI single to left (McN 8, AMCC- 4).