Softball: April 26 Scoreboard
Southland Conference
McNeese State 6, Lamar 1
McNeese State 5, Lamar 4 (8)
Northwestern State 2, Stephen F. Austin 1
Southeastern Louisiana 2, Nicholls 1
Nicholls 5, Southeastern Louisiana 2
McNeese State 6, Lamar 1
McNeese State 5, Lamar 4 (8)
LAKE CHARLES, La. – McNeese softball concluded their home schedule Sunday and sent senior Lauren Langner and Bianca Lilly with on a good note by taking a Southland Conference doubleheader from Lamar 6-1 and 5-4 (8 inn.) to complete the series sweep. McNeese opened the series Friday with a 10-7 win.
Langner and Lilly did their part in their own ways that contributed to the wins on Sunday. The two were honored following the doubleheader.
Langner picked up a hit, scored two runs and knocked in one run on the day. Lilly picked up the complete game victory in game two to complete the series sweep. Lilly gave up four runs on five hits, walked two and tied her career high with five strikeouts.
McNeese began the day just like Friday, scoring early in the opening game with three runs in the first inning to take a 3-0 lead. Langner’s RBI up the middle scored Erika Piancastelli for the first run of the game. Langner and Taylor Schmidt came home on a double by Bryanna Castro.
Lamar scored their only run of the game in the second inning on a RBI single by Marissa LeJune. After two scoreless innings, McNeese tacked on three more runs in the fourth on two hits and one Lamar error. A bases loaded sacrifice fly by Emily Vincent brought pinch runner Dakota Matiko home for a 4-0 Cowgirl lead. Morgan Catron’s doubled to left center scored Piancastelli and Rachel Smith for the 6-0 lead.
McNeese collected seven hits in the game including doubles by Catron and Castro. Piancastelli led the Cowgirls at the plate with two hits and scored two runs.
Smith improved to 11-5 on the year with the complete game victory. The sophomore gave up one run on six hits and struck out five.
McNeese also took the early lead in the nightcap by taking a 1-0 lead in the first on a Lamar error.
Lamar scored three runs on three hits and one Cowgirl error in the second to take a 3-1 lead. McNeese cut the lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the inning when Schmidt scored on a ground out to short by Hailey Drew. Piancastelli stole home in the third to tie the game at three all.
Lamar retook the lead 4-3 in the fourth but the Cowgirls came right back to tie the game again in the bottom of the inning. Langner was hit by a pitch, went to second on a ground out before coming home on a single by Tori Yanitor.
Neither team was able to send another runner across the plate in the next three innings, sending the game into the eighth inning.
Lilly retired Lamar in order in the top of the eighth on two grounders and a fly out to left field, setting the stage for the winning run in the bottom of the inning.
Catron led things off for the Cowgirls with a double to right center and represented the game-winning run. With Langner at the plate and no outs, Catron stole third. Lamar’s catcher attempted to throw out Catron who had taken a lead after a pitch but the throw was errant and Catron came home to end the game.
McNeese collected six hits in the nightcap and was led with two apiece by Piancastelli and Schmidt.
McNeese will conclude the regular season with a three game series at Central Arkansas next weekend.
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Northwestern State 2, Stephen F. Austin 1
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Northwestern State softball moved its magic number to one after utilizing steady defensive play and a pair of long balls to down Stephen F. Austin, 2-1 from the SFA Softball Complex on Sunday afternoon.
Following McNeese State’s doubleheader sweep of Lamar early Sunday evening, the Lady Demons (31-15, 20-2 SLC) will have to wait until next weekend for the opportunity to clinch their first Southland Conference championship since 2000. One win in the three-game set at Southeastern Louisiana would seal the No. 1 seed in the NSU-hosted Southland Conference Tournament from May 6-8.
“We’ve got to keep winning,” seventh-year head coach Donald Pickett said. “We’ve got to go down the Southeastern and win that series and keep momentum going into the tournament.”
Mikayla Brown (10-2) earned her second win of the series against SFA (18-29, 10-13 SLC), tossing the complete game, scattering five hits and giving up one earned run while striking out two and walking three.
NSU launched nine home runs on the weekend including a second inning line-drive solo shot from Natalie Landry over the left field wall in the second. In the sixth, Kellye Kincannon gave the Lady Demons some much needed breathing room, accounting for her 50th RBI with a solo jack.
Landry, Micayla Sorosiak, Kaytie Proctor and Hailee Rhodes, who make up the Lady Demons 6-9 hitters in the order, accounted for 14 of the team’s 25 hits on the weekend including five home runs.
“Our top five in the order struggled yesterday and today,” Pickett said. “For (the bottom half) to come through was huge. That’s why it’s a team game and we’re built like that. As long as those kids are confident, they’re very capable of doing those things.”
SFA secured its lone run of the game in the sixth inning on a Lindsay Campbell triple to plate Brittany Lewis.
The double-play ball proved to be the difference for NSU. With the bases juiced for the Ladyjacks in the fifth, Brittany Virgoe stabbed a line drive from Alisa Hamilton and stepped on the bag to set down Annie Mehringer and end the threat.
“We’ve been making the plays,” Pickett said. “If we can do that and continue to be confident on that side of the ball then I think we can make the adjustments we need to make and score the runs we need to score offensively.”
Ladyjacks’ starter Callee Guffey (10-13) went the distance but again fell short to NSU. The righty allowed five hits and two runs while walking one.
First pitch for Friday’s doubleheader at Southeastern Louisiana is scheduled for 3 p.m. with the Saturday finale slated for noon.
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Southeastern Louisiana 2, Nicholls 1
Nicholls 5, Southeastern Louisiana 2
THIBODAUX, La. – After battling weather all weekend, the Nicholls State University softball team was finally able to get two games in against Southeastern Louisiana with a doubleheader on Sunday, and the teams would split the decisions as the Lady Lions won the first game, 2-1, before the Colonels took the second, 5-2, at the Colonel Softball Complex.
With the split, Nicholls (25-20, 11-12 SLC) enters the final weekend of the regular season a game back of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for the final spot in the Southland Conference Tournament. The Colonels close out the season with a three-game series at Lamar, while the Islanders host Incarnate Word.
Following Sunday’s games, the Colonels honored their lone senior of the 2015 class, outfielder/designated player Laura Neil.
In a game that featured a five-hour weather delay yesterday, play resumed Sunday and the Colonels’ Hannah Haydel came out on the wrong end of a pitchers’ duel as Southeastern won, 2-1.
A throwing error in the second led to SLU’s first run and the Lady Lions made it 2-0 on an extremely rare sacrifice foul out to first base. SLU’s Amber Sather hit a blooper into foul territory and Alexis Huss chased it down, but her momentum carried her towards the fence and Katie Lacour raced home to beat the throw.
Taylor Bishop (13-6) allowed a single by Brooke Morris in the first, but did not surrender another hit until the fifth inning. The hit would be a big one as Kimmie Rodriguez sent a liner over the left field wall for her fourth long ball of the season, making the score 2-1. Kayla Prater then reached on a bunt single and stole second with one out, but was left stranded on second base.
With one down in the sixth, Nicholls looked to have something going as Payton Gremillion singled to left. But the next batter, Morris, ripped a shot to short on a hit-and-run that was caught and Gremillion was doubled up.
Bishop retired the Colonels in order in the seventh to give SLU the victory.
Despite the loss, Haydel allowed just three hits and struck out six in seven innings of work.
The Colonels jumped out to a five-run lead after three innings and it was more than enough runs for Taylor Hastings as Nicholls earned a split on Sunday with a 5-2 victory in Game 2.
Both teams had seven hits in the game, with Morris and Danielle Phillips leading Nicholls with two each. Phillips legged out a two-out triple in the first, which led to a bases loaded two-run single by Jessica Taylor. After battling off 10 pitches, Taylor singled to give Nicholls an early 2-0 lead.
In the third, Morris and Phillips singled before a walk by Prater loaded the bases for Rodriguez. With the count full, Rodriguez found a seam up the middle, bringing home two more runs. Taylor would cap the inning with a sacrifice fly to make the count 5-0.
The Lady Lions tagged Hastings (6-2) for four hits through the first three innings, but were never able to crack the scoring column. In the fourth, however, SLU scored its first run after a bases loaded error made the score 5-1.
Hastings ran into trouble in the seventh after a leadoff walk and a double put runners in scoring position with no outs. Jackie Johnson came into the game in a save situation and retired the first batter on a shallow fly to right. After a sacrifice fly made it 5-2, Johnson forced another flyout to right to end the game.
Playing in her final game at home, Neil went 0-for-3 at the plate but was robbed of a hit in the fifth when Lady Lion Sydney Booker made an outstanding diving grab in shallow left field.
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