Islanders Eliminate McNeese State, Advance to Southland Championship Game
No. 1 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 8, No. 4 McNeese State 6
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the No. 1 seed and regular season champion, advanced to its first Southland Conference softball championship game with an 8-6 win against the defending tournament champions McNeese State.
In the top of the seventh inning, senior Brittany Tucker crushed a three-run home run to center field as part of a four-run seventh inning to clinch the Islanders first appearance in the Southland tournament championship game.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning off a hot shot down the first base line by senior Lauren Dodson that was mishandled by the McNeese State first baseman senior Katie Shumaker allowing Islander senior Caley Jeter to score the first run of the game.
The Islanders extended their lead to 4-0 in the top of the third inning. After a leadoff single by Jeter and a bunt single by junior Hannah Schwarz, senior Kacie Smith hit her first home run of the tournament with a three-run bomb to center field.
McNeese State chipped into the Islander lead in the fourth inning (4-1) with an RBI double by senior Molly Guidry scoring freshman Alanna DiVittorio who had reached base on a fielder's choice. In the bottom of the fifth, McNeese inched closer (4-3) as freshman Stacey Conley hit her fifth home run of the season and first of the tournament with a 2-run blast to right center field scoring senior Lindsey Langner.
Conley later put McNeese in the lead (5-4) in the bottom of the sixth inning after driving in her third and fourth RBI of the game on a bases loaded single to right field scoring junior Dani Price and Langner.
McNeese State, which had made its 22nd tournament appearance, including seven consecutive, ends its 2011 season with a 31-29 record.
Islander pitcher junior Jordan Trujillo, who came on in relief in the fifth inning, improves to 17-7.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi advances to play the No. 3 seed Texas State in the championship game at 2:05 p.m. which will be televised live on the Southland Conference Television Network and available by webcast on SLCNOW. If a second championship game is necessary, it will be broadcast nationally on Fox College Sports Central.
Chris Mycoskie, the director of television and electronic media for the Southland Conference, who has handled the streaming play-by-play duties for the first nine games of the tournament, will pass off the play-by-play headset for the championship game to Doug Anderson and will assume the role of color analyst.
Post Game Quotes
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Coach Jake Schumann
"That's all you can do, if you lose the first one it's going to be a long haul. You just play one game at a time and we got back to it and into the championship. We extended the day by another game and we're just going to take it one inning at a time and try to do it again."
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Senior Brittany Tucker
"All I was doing was trying to get that extra run across. The more runs you get the better chance you have to hold them off the next inning. Laura (Phillips) started off the rally and it just kept going."