Central Arkansas Tops McNeese State 6-2 in Southland Softball Second Round
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FRISCO, Texas – Third-seeded Central Arkansas defeated second-seeded McNeese State Wednesday evening in the Southland Conference Softball Tournament at the Lady Demon Diamond in Natchitoches, La. Winning their second game of the day, the Bears advance to the winners bracket semifinals of the conference tournament. UCA will make its second appearance after making the semifinals in 2013.
Central Arkansas (32-19, 16-8 Southland) recorded all six runs in the first two innings of the game, scoring first on a two-run homer by catcher Jessie Taylor over the left field fence. The home run in the first inning brought in UCA second baseman Sarah Bigej. In the second, third baseman Sam Forrest singled down the right field line for an RBI, allowing shortstop Hayley Parker to score. First baseman Ashley Boswell then scored on a McNeese State error by junior pitcher Jamie Allred. The Bears reached a 6-0 lead in the second with two more unearned runs as junior Jessie Taylor hit a double to right field. Sam Forrest and centerfielder Amy Gunnells were able to touch home plate for the unearned runs.
McNeese State earned one of their two runs in the third inning as third baseman Bryanna Castro hit a solo home run over the left center wall. The Cowgirls then scored for the final time in the bottom of the seventh with pinch hitter Taylor Goree grounding out for a RBI which allowed right fielder Tori Yanitor to come home for the run.
Central Arkansas senior starting pitcher Kylee Studioso pitched her second complete game of the day, earning the win and improving her record to 25-12 on the year.
Cowgirls sophomore pitcher Rachel Smith took the loss, falling to 12-6 on the season.
No. 3 Central Arkansas plays tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. CST in Natchitoches against the winner of tonight’s game between tournament host and No. 1 seed Northwestern State and fifth-seeded Lamar.
Second-seeded McNeese State (36-19, 21-5 Southland) will now play tomorrow afternoon in the second game of back draw with first pitch slated for 1:30 p.m. from the Lady Demon Diamond. The Cowgirls face No. 4 seed Southeastern Louisiana who lost 3-1 earlier today to No. 5 Lamar. McNeese State swept the conference regular-season series earlier this year in Hammond.
The Southland title game is slated for a 2 p.m. start Friday with a possibility of second game for the tournament championship. The 11th game would be played in the event an undefeated team lost in the title game forcing a second game for the tournament championship, upholding the double elimination format. Game 11 start time is to be determined.
For more information on the tournament, including a link to
live stats, please visit
Southland.org. For updates and the most current information throughout the tournament please follow the Southland Conference on twitter at SouthlandSports and use the hashtag “SLCSoftball”.
The first nine games of the 2015 Southland Softball Tournament are being streamed live for free on the Southland Conference Digital Network, including
Southland.org/watch and the league’s mobile and tablet apps. The championship round will be an exclusive presentation of ESPN3, available via
WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app. Chris Mycoskie, Assistant Commissioner of Television and Electronic Media for the Southland Conference, will handle play-by play for all games. Three-time Southland softball coach of the year and National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame member Yvette Girouard will join him for the championship as the color analyst.
Quotes
Central Arkansas Head Coach David Kuhn
On this afternoon's win after playing a 13-inning game earlier in the day...
"It was the recipe for success: great pitching, timely hitting and super defense. The girls just did a great job."
On the semifinals…
"Anybody here can beat anybody. This whole conference from top to bottom is so tough. No matter who it is, Lamar or Northwestern State, we just need to go get some rest and come out tomorrow."
Central Arkansas Catcher Jessie Taylor
On this afternoon's win after playing a 13-inning game earlier in the day...
"It was an advantage to us with (McNeese State) underestimating us (after losing to McNeese last week) and coming off a 13-inning game. They thought we were tired. They thought we were down. But we know how to play. We know that we have to have good pitching, timely hitting and perfect defense. And that happened today."
McNeese State Head Coach Joanna Hardin
On overall thoughts on the game...
“Definitely a tough one today but you have to tip your hat off to UCA for taking advantage of some mistakes that we made early in the game and some free passes that we gave up. I'm proud of the girls for fighting all the way to the last inning. We hit some hard ball but they were right to people and they hit some balls that fell in. At the end of the day you can't give a quality team free passes, they will always take advantage of that and that has been a bit of our achilles heel and we will have to figure out that piece of the puzzle. If any team is capable of coming back and fighting their way through the tournament it is us. We are excited for the challenge and ready to take on Southeastern La. tomorrow afternoon.”