LAKE CHARLES—No. 5 seed Lamar forced the Southland Conference Tournament Series Championship "If Necessary" game with a 7-6 win over No. 2 seed McNeese Friday night. The two teams will meet for the third game and final game of the series Saturday in a winner take all game. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. with the game streaming on ESPN+. The winner will represent the Southland Conference in the NCAA Tournament.
McNeese (39-20) will look to advance to its 10 overall NCAA Tournament, sixth under head coach
James Landreneau, and first NCAA appearance since 2023.
Lamar (34-23) will look to win its first Southland Tournament and earn its first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history.
Lamar, serving as the home team took advantage of two hit by pitches, one error and two hits off Cowgirl starter
Brookelyn Taylor to take a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.
McNeese missed a chance to get on the board in the top of the second inning with the bases loaded and one out when
Kassidy Chance's line drive to third baseman Gracee Hess was caught. Hess then tagged third base for the double play that ended the Cowgirl threat.
The Cardinals added another run in the bottom of the second inning to extend their lead to 4-0.
McNeese senior third baseman
Jada Muñoz brought the Cowgirls to within one run (4-3) in the third inning with a three-run homerun over the left field wall. The homerun is Munoz's ninth of the season.
Muñoz struck again in the fourth inning with a two out double to left center that gave McNeese a 5-4 lead. Chance drew a walk followed by a
Maddie Weeks singled to right field. Both players were able to advance an extra base after Lamar's right fielder misplayed the ball. After a ground out for the second out,
Corine Poncho walked to load the bases before Muñoz's double.
The Cardinals retook the lead (7-5) in the fifth inning with three runs on three hits including a three RBI homerun by designated player Cimari-lei Wessling.
McNeese made things interesting in the top of the seventh when Mieko Dominguez drew a leadoff walk and later scored on a double to left center by Chance to cut the lead to 7-6. With Chance representing the tying run on second, Lamar reliever Ava Prejean got
Maddie Weeks to fly out to center for the second out and
Rylee Cloud grounded out back to Prejean in the circle for the final out of the game.
Prejean picked up her sixth win of the season in relief to improve to 6-3 while
Kadence Williams falls to 3-2 on the season with the loss in relief of
Brookelyn Taylor.
McNeese picked up 10 hits and stranded 12 base runners while Lamar picked up six hits and stranded four base runners.
Chance, Weeks,
Corine Poncho, and Muñoz all had two hits apiece to lead McNeese. Muñoz accounted for five of the six Cowgirl RBI's in the game.
Isabella Flores led the Cardinals with three hits.
SCORING
B1- Lamar scored three runs on two hits and one Cowgirl error to take the early lead (LU 3, McN 0)
T2- McNeese left the bases loaded with one out when
Kassidy Chance line out to the third baseman who then tagged third base for the double play end the threat. (LU 3, McN 0)
B2- Lamar added another run on a fielder's choice RBI by Ariel Flores (LU 4, McN 0)
T3- McNeese pulled to within one run with a three-run homerun by Jada Munoz (LU 4, McN 3)
T4- Munoz gave the Cowgirls the lead with a two RBI double to left (McN 5, LU 4)
B5- Lamar retook the lead for good on a three-run homerun by Cimara-lei Wessling (LU 7, McN 5)
T7- McNeese scored its final run of the game on a double to left center by Chance (LU 7, McN 6)
