Southland Conference

Softball: April 11 Scoreboard

4/11/2015 5:30:30 PM

Southland Conference

Northwestern State 6, McNeese State 1
Northwestern State 9, McNeese State 5
Sam Houston State 5, Houston Baptist 2
Sam Houston State 8, Houston Baptist 1
Lamar 4, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 1
Nicholls 8, UIW 1
Stephen F. Austin 14, Abilene Christian 7
Southeastern Louisiana 2, Central Arkansas 0
 
Northwestern State 6, McNeese State 1
Northwestern State 9, McNeese State 5
LAKE CHARLES, La. – Seven was the lucky number in a pair of decisive Northwestern State softball victories against McNeese State at the Cowgirl Diamond on Saturday.
 
In the opener, starter Mikayla Brown tossed all seven innings, holding the Cowgirls to just one run in a 6-1 victory. In Game 2, NSU put up a seven-run fourth highlighted by a three-run home run from Cassandra Barefield for a 9-3 win.
 
The victories moved NSU into sole possession of first place in the Southland Conference at 24-14 overall and 14-2 in league play. McNeese fell to 25-17 and 12-5 in conference action.
 
“Mikayla Brown came out and threw a great game,” seventh-year head coach Donald Pickett said. “It was huge for us to come out and tie the game then we got a couple big hits and were able to extend it. I think our girls played a lot more confident and loose at that time.”
 
NSU catcher Kaytie Proctor, tasked with controlling McNeese’s aggressive offense, did that and more, launching a two-run homer over the left field wall in the sixth inning of Game 1, giving NSU a 3-1 lead. The freshman also gunned down a McNeese runner in the fourth.
 
Natalie Landry provided the final blow one inning later, with a two-run shot of her own, pushing NSU’s lead to 6-1. Both long balls cleared the wall in left center and marked the 17th time this season the Lady Demons have hit two or more homers in a game.
 
The left fielder added another long ball in Game 2, a solo shot in the fifth inning. The pair of long balls moved her season total to six. Barefield finished with two home runs of her own, the first coming by way of a solo jack in the second inning of Game 2.
 
“McNeese is a great team and you need to score all the runs you can against them,” Pickett said. “Barefield and Landry had big days for us. It was huge for us to have them come up with big hits and tally quite a few RBIs.”
 
Brown (6-2) notched her third straight complete game as a starter, allowing just three hits and one run while walking two and fanning a pair.
 
McNeese got on the board first in the second inning. Starting pitcher Emily Vincent, batting in the four-hole, reached to lead off the frame on a hit by pitch. After the junior proceeded to swipe her 11th and 12th bags of the season, Hailey Drew reached on a two-out walk to place runners at the corners. Drew raced for second on the first pitch to Shelbi Strickland and Proctor attempted to catch Vincent off third, however, an errant throw brought in McNeese’s first run of the game.
 
Vincent tossed six innings, allowing five runs and seven hits while striking out seven and walking three. She gave way to Jamie Allred who threw the final inning, giving up one run and one hit while striking out another.
 
With two outs in the third, NSU answered. Brittany Virgoe laced a 2-1 pitch to right center for a double, NSU’s first hit and third baserunner of the day. Then, on the same count, Kellye Kincannon placed a ball to the nearly identical spot, knotting the game at one on her seventh double of the season.
 
The Cowgirls threatened in the sixth, as Taylor Goree and Marisa Taunton reached on singles, just the second and third hits of the day for McNeese. The pair moved over on a successful sacrifice bunt from Lauren Langner. However, against the heart of the McNeese order, Brown clamped down. The right-hander forced a pop out to first baseman Brittney Jones in foul territory then induced a groundout to shortstop to end the threat.
 
In the seventh, Virgoe lined a shot down the left field line for a leadoff double. With Kincannon at the plate, the senior moved to second on an error by Goree at short, placing runners on first and second and effectively chasing Vincent from the game. With Jamie Allred in to pitch, the duo moved up a bag on a wild pitch.
 
Brittney Jones, whose reached base streak ended at 10, was able to drive Virgoe home on a sacrifice fly to left. One batter later, Landry launched her fifth homer of the season.
 
“We’re taking it a game at a time and our girls have done really well about doing that,” Pickett said. “That’s how we approach every game we play. We have to go out and prove ourselves every day. There are a lot of great teams in our conference and we just need to keep playing good ball.”
 
In the second inning of Game 2, Bryanna Castro led off with a single. The freshman stole second and swiped third on Hailee Drew’s walk. However, NSU starter Baylee Gray, making her first start since March 27 at Lamar, forced Taylor Schmidt to pop up into a double play, catching Drew off third to end the frame.
 
One inning later, Langner lined a two-out single and proceeded to second on an error in left field. She would come around to score one batter later on the Piancastelli double to knot the game at one.
 
A lengthy seven-run seventh inning doomed the Cowgirls. NSU juiced the bases thanks to a Landry single sandwiched between a pair of walks from Jones and Proctor. With one out, Hailee Rhodes plated Jones on a single down the left field line. The NSU lead moved to 3-1 on a fielder’s choice groundout from Sidney Salmans. Virgoe got into the action with a bloop single down the right field line that moved the lead to 4-1. Then, on a 2-2 count, Kincannon hit a liner to the left field wall, to plate Salmans setting the stage for Barefield’s three-run jack.
 
McNeese scratched back for a pair in their half of the fourth as Drew launched a two-run home run. After Schmidt singled, Gray exited the game. The junior tossed 3 1-3 innings, allowing three runs, six hits and two walks.
 
Shelby Sells (2-3) went 3 innings, earning her second win on the season, allowing four hits and two runs. Brown entered to record the game’s final two outs.
 
With inclement weather forcing the cancellation of Game 3 of the series, NSU returns to action on Wednesday at Louisiana Tech. First pitch from the Lady Techster Softball Complex is slated for six o’clock.
 
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Sam Houston State 5, Houston Baptist 2
Sam Houston State 8, Houston Baptist 1
HOUSTON, Texas – The Sam Houston softball team totaled 13 runs and 21 hits as the Bearkats swept a Southland Conference doubleheader from Houston Baptist at Husky Field in Houston Saturday afternoon.
 
Second baseman Dani Allen and right fielder Sarah Allison each hit home to lead Sam Houston to a 5-2 victory in the first game. Designated player Hannah Marino and first baseman Angelica Gonzales blasted home runs in an 8-0 shutout in the nightcap
 
Allison and shortstop Alexis Garcia led the Bearkats at the plate in the opening game, each with a pair of hits. Sam Houston totaled 10 hits in the contest while pitchers Meme Quinn and Haley Baros combined to limit the Huskies to six hits.
 
Quinn (5-6) was the winning pitcher facing 18 batters in the first four innings. Baros picked up her third save of the year keeping HBU hitless in the final three frames.
 
Allen started the scoring for the Kats with a home run to left field in the opening inning. Allison homered to left field and Webb walked and scored on a single by Garcia in the second frame.
 
Allison doubles in the third and score on a double by third baseman Peyton Webb in the third inning. A run-scoring double by designed player Angelica Garcia accounted for the fifth run.
 
Sam Houston got off to a fast start in the second game as catcher Tiffany Castillo had a run-scoring double and Allison an RBI single. Allen scored on an illegal pitch to give the SHSU women a quick 3-0 lead.
 
Marino blasted a two-run homer to left center in the third inning. Gonzales had a solo home run to left field in the sixth. Garcia added another run with a double in the seventh inning.
 
Tayler Atkinson produced her third consecutive complete game for the victory in the nightcap. The freshman spread six hits over seven innings, striking out two to earn the victory. She allowed only an unearned run.
 
Sam Houston upped its record to 12-24 for the year and 4-12 in Southland action. HBU dropped to 11-22 and 5-12. The two will attempt to complete the series Sunday, weather permitting.
 
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Lamar 4, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 1
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Casey Cromwell got the Lamar Lady Cardinals off to a fast start and pitcher Laura Napoli did the rest as the Lamar Lady Cardinals claimed a 4-1 win over the host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders in Southland Conference softball action Saturday.
 
Cromwell blasted the game's second pitch over the fence in left-center field to give Lamar a quick 1-0 lead. It was Cromwell's team-leading eighth home run of the season and 19th of her career, extending her school record. The senior now owns a seven-game hitting streak and has reached base safely in 16 straight games.
 
Cromwell finished the day 3-for-4 with a double, a home run and three RBIs. She also had four putouts and four assists at second base without an error as Lamar improved to 21-19 overall and 12-6 in the conference.
 
"Casey was impressive on both offense and defense," Lamar coach Holly Bruder said. "This was a huge win for us. I loved the way we played today."
 
Jenna Holland added an RBI single in the first on her 100th career hit to give Lamar a 2-0 lead. That was more than enough for Napoli (15-11), who pitched a complete-game four-hitter, allowing no earned runs.
 
"Laura was awesome," Bruder said. "That was a strong effort from her."
 
With the win, Lamar remains in fifth place in the Southland Conference, just a half-game behind McNeese State, and a game ahead of sixth-place Nicholls. With the loss, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (13-24-1, 8-10) remained in seventh place, three games behind Nicholls and four games behind Lamar with nine games remaining. The top six teams qualify for next month's Southland Conference Tournament at Northwestern State.
 
Lamar is at Texas A&M for a nonconference game at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday before hosting Central Arkansas in a three-game Southland Conference series next weekend. The Bears (26-15, 14-4) are in second place in the conference, one game behind Northwestern State after taking two of three from Southeastern Louisiana this weekend.
 
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Nicholls 8, UIW 1
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Nicholls State University softball team cranked out 14 hits and Jackie Johnson tossed a complete game four-hitter as the Colonels defeated Incarnate Word, 8-1, on Saturday at Cardinals Field to take the series two games to one.
 
The victory keeps Nicholls (24-16, 10-8 SLC) in sixth place in the Southland Conference standings and more importantly, the Colonels maintain the final spot in the postseason tournament with only three series remaining. UIW slipped to 9-31 on the year and 3-15 in conference.
 
Johnson (7-7) was phenomenal in her second start of the weekend, limiting the Cardinals to just one unearned run in the third inning. UIW loaded the bases in the frame, but Johnson got out of the jam on a fly out which started a stretch of 10 straight retired batters. She finished the game with four strikeouts and just two walks.
 
At the plate, five Colonels had two-hit games, led by Haley Parkerson with two hits and two RBIs. Brooke Morris, Payton Gremillion, Kayla Prater and Jessica Taylor joined Parkerson with two hits, while Kristen Ahearn drove in two runs, including one on a solo home run in the third that made the score 1-0.
 
The 1-0 lead was short-lived as UIW took advantage of a Haley Stevenson error to tie the game in the bottom half of the inning. But the Colonels used three hits and a pair of bases loaded walks in the fourth to go up 3-1. Laura Neil, Taylor and Morris all singled off Brooke DuBois (4-9) to load the bases, setting up run-scoring walks by Danielle Phillips and Ahearn.
 
In the fifth, UIW brought in Kristin Hebert to pitch and Nicholls tagged her for two runs. Prater singled and came home on a double to left center by Parkerson, and Morris made the score 5-1 on an RBI single to left.
 
With Johnson still holding UIW in check, the offense continued to pour it on as five hits in the sixth led to three more runs. Prater drove in a run on a base hit to center, and Taylor and Parkerson each recorded an RBI on infield singles.
 
The Cardinals finally ended Johnson’s retired batter streak with a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh, but it would be the only runner to reach as she retired the next three batters to earn the complete game victory.
 
The 14 hits by the Colonels was their third consecutive double-digit effort and 13th of the season. In the series against UIW, Nicholls batted .381 while the pitching staff held the Cardinals to a .253 average.
 
Nicholls will continue its nine-game road swing with a doubleheader at Jackson State on Wednesday, April 15. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
 
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Stephen F. Austin 14, Abilene Christian 7
ABILENE, Texas – The Stephen F. Austin softball team scored nine runs in the final two innings and knocked three home runs, including a grand slam off the bat of Taylor Fraccastoro, to beat Abilene Christian 14-7 on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Ladyjacks secure their first three-game Southland Conference sweep of the season and improve to 15-26 overall and 7-10 in league play.
 
In the three-game series against the Wildcats (9-29, 3-15 SLC), SFA scored 40 runs and launched 10 home runs while batting .422 (43-for-102) as a team.
 
Trailing 7-5 entering the sixth inning on Saturday, the Ladyjacks came alive for nine unanswered runs on three home runs to clinch the 14-7 victory. Fraccastoro sent her first dinger of the day to left-center to drive in Shalie Day and Heather Hollingsworth and give SFA the 8-7 advantage. Day and Hollingsworth each walked to set up Fraccastoro’s three-run bomb.
 
Brittany Lewis kept the trend going to start the seventh. After Lindsay Campbell drew a walk, Lewis scorched a homer to left-center padding SFA’s lead to 10-7.
 
Later in the frame with the bases loaded, Fraccastoro put the icing on the cake with a grand slam to left field. Her second homer of the day, coming in consecutive at-bats, brings her season total to nine – the most on the team. The six-run seventh put the Ladyjacks up 14-7 and proved to be enough for Callee Guffey to close out the win in the bottom half.
 
Fraccastoro finished the game 2-for-4 with three runs, seven RBI, two home runs and a walk.
 
The Ladyjacks scored runs in each of the first three innings, getting an RBI single from Lewis, an RBI groundout from Taylor Vick and scoring three runs on Wildcat miscues.
 
Lewis also had a big day offensively, going 3-for-4 with a run, three RBI and a home run. Hollingsworth notched three hits on the day and reached base safely in all five trips to the plate. Thriving from the leadoff spot, she went 3-for-3 with three runs and two walks. Rounding out Saturday’s leaders was Campbell, who went 2-for-3 while scoring three times, recording a double and earning a walk.
 
Guffey (8-11) tossed 5.1 innings of relief, allowing just two hits and one run. She struck out four batters en route to picking up the eighth win of her freshman season.
 
The Ladyjacks will look to ride their momentum into a five-game homestand starting on Wednesday when ULM comes to Nacogdoches for a midweek doubleheader. First pitch is set for 2:00 p.m.
 
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Southeastern Louisiana 2, Central Arkansas 0
CONWAY, Ark. – The Southeastern Louisiana softball team returned to form on Saturday, avoiding a series sweep with a 2-0 victory over Central Arkansas Saturday afternoon at Farris Field.
 
Senior pitcher Spencer Adkinson (3-4) struck out eight Bears on the way to a complete-game four-hit shutout, helping SLU (19-20, 13-4 Southland) bounce back from Friday’s doubleheader sweep. UCA fell to 26-15 overall and 14-4 in Southland Conference play.
 
Senior third baseman Megan Moore drove in the game-winning run in the top of the fifth inning. She scored junior outfielder Katie Lacour, who finished the game 3-for-4 at the plate. The Port St. Joe, Florida native is now two hits away from setting a new single-season school record for hits and needs two runs to become the school’s career leader in that category.
 
Senior Kylee Studioso (21-9) took the loss for the Bears, despite holding SLU to five hits and striking out 10 batters. The Lady Lions were able to coax eight walks against the UCA ace, as Moore and junior designated player Amber Sather each earned three free passes. Sather extended her career school record total to 99 walks and needs three walks to break her own single-season school mark of 35 walks.
 
Studioso and Adkinson both pitched out of trouble over the first four innings, as both teams stranded six runners apiece as the game remained deadlocked. SLU finally broke through in the top of the fifth inning.
 
A Lacour single and a Sather walk put a pair of runners on with two outs. Moore followed with a sharp single to right field, allowing Lacour to score the go-ahead run.
 
Southeastern added an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning. Consecutive walks issued to Sather and Moore put a pair of runners on with two outs. Senior second baseman Vanessa Eng then hit a pop up to shallow left that UCA senior shortstop Hayley Parker misplayed, allowing freshman pinch runner Peyton Stokes-Sutton to race home for a 2-0 Lady Lion lead.
 
That was more than enough for Adkinson. The Headland, Alabama native retired the final seven Bears she faced on the way to her third straight victory in the circle.
 
SLU will be back in action next week, hosting McNeese State for a three-game series at North Oak Park. The series opens with a 6 p.m. contest on Friday and concludes with a 12 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday.
 
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