No. 3 Lamar Defeats No. 6 Northwestern State 4-2 to Open Tournament

No. 3 Lamar Defeats No. 6 Northwestern State 4-2 to Open Tournament

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Southland Conference

Box Score

CONWAY, Ark. - Brittany Rodriguez's double to center field in the bottom of the fourth proved to be the difference-maker for No. 3 Lamar as the Cardinals defeated No. 6 Northwestern State 4-2 Wednesday at Farris Field in Conway, Ark.

Up 2-1, Rodriguez shot a double over the head of Northwestern State's Sidney Salmans in centerfield to plate two runs that would go on to be the game-winning runs for the Cardinals.

The Lady Demons' leadoff hitter, Salmans, opened the game with a triple to centerfield. Shortstop Hailee Rhodes sent a sacrifice fly to right field to put the Lady Demons up 1-0 heading into the bottom half of the first inning.

The Cardinals answered back with Rodriguez crossing the plate in the bottom of the first after shooting a single up the middle. Lamar's designated player Shelby Henderson ripped a hit to centerfield on a 2-2 count with the bases loaded, but Salmans' made the play at the fence to keep the score even.

Third baseman Sable Hankins doubled to right center in the bottom of the third for Lamar to put two runners in scoring position for the Cardinals. Kelly Meeuwsen grounded out to second, but it was enough to bring pinch runner Mackenzie Futrell home for the 2-1 lead and advance Hankins to third.

Down 4-1 in the top of the fifth, the Lady Demons first baseman Brittney Jones knocked her seventh homerun of the season to cut the lead in half with a shot to right field.

Lamar will turn around and play No. 2 Nicholls today at 4 p.m. The two teams ended the season with a three-game series that fell in the Colonels' favor to claim the second seed in the tournament. Northwestern State will take on the loser of tonight's Game 4 tomorrow at 12:30 p.m.

Due to anticipated inclement weather, all of tomorrow's games will be pushed up by one hour. The first game will start at 10 a.m. with the last game of Thursday scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

Games 1-9 will be streamed live on the Southland Digital Network with Chris Mycoskie, Steve Owens and Chris Kane sharing play-by-play duties. The games will be available via southland.org/live and the Southland Conference app. In addition to the mobile app, the app is now available for Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV and Roku.


The championship round will be an exclusive presentation of ESPN3, which can be viewed via WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app with Mycoskie and former Southeastern Louisiana pitcher Kati Morse on the call.