McNeese State Upsets Sam Houston State in Southland Softball Tournament
SAN ANTONIO, Texas
– In a game that ended about 16 hours and 15 minutes after it started due
to suspended play from rain the night before, McNeese State outlasted Sam
Houston State 6-1 in the Southland Conference Softball Tournament at Roadrunner
Field in San Antonio, Texas.
After
being shutdown offensively by Sam Houston pitcher Tomi Garrison through five
innings, the Cowgirls capitalized on some Bearkat errors in the sixth. Dani
Price started the inning for the Cowgirls with a single down the left field
line to give McNeese its second hit of the game. The Cowgirls then loaded the
bases after the Bearkats committed consecutive errors on two sacrifice bunt
attempts. McNeese plated the first runs of the game after two consecutive
fielder’s choices. The big hit of the inning came from catcher Stacey Conley,
who roped a two-RBI single to right field. The Cowgirls plated five runs in the
sixth inning, all of which were unearned. The Cowgirls added one more run in
the seventh innings to increase the lead to 6-0.
Sam
Houston (26-20) avoided the shutout with a solo shot by Ashley Isbell in the
seventh. Isbell home run off the scoreboard in left field was her fifth homer
of the season.
Freshman
Bianca Lilly went the distance for the Cowgirls, allowing only one run on five
hits while striking out two hitters. Lilly improves to 4-1 on the year.
Garrison fell to 10-9 on the season after going 5.2 innings, allowing five
unearned runs on five hits.
McNeese
State (34-19) will face top-seeded Texas State today at 4:30 p.m. for a spot in
tomorrow’s championship game. Sam Houston State will play Central Arkansas in
an elimination game today at 2 p.m.