LAKE CHARLES, La. – After a lengthy rain delay in the top of the sixth inning, the second seed Southeastern Lady Lions’ offense woke up and broke a tie in the bottom of the inning to push to a 7-1 win over seventh seed HCU in the opening round of the 2023 Southland Conference Softball Championship on Tuesday.
 
Southeastern moves to 45-12 overall for the season and takes on the winner of tonight’s Nicholls/Northwestern State game at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. The Huskies are now 20-32 on the season and take on the loser of that game in an elimination contest at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
 
The Huskies were the early leaders in the game, as Kaicey Hagler hammered a homerun to left field to lead off the second inning and give HCU a 1-0 lead.
 
HCU would hold that lead until the bottom of the fifth, when SLU’s Audrey Greely tied the game up with a solo blast to left with one out in the inning.
 
After the rain delay in the top of the sixth, the Lady Lions came out roaring in the bottom of the inning. SLC Player and Hitter of the Year Bailey Krolczyk smoked an RBI double to start the rally and break the tie, followed by an RBI infield single from Greely. Madison Rayner’s RBI single was a prelude to a two-run triple by Ka’Lyn Watson. Maddie Leal’s RBI groundout capped the six-run inning.
 
Southeastern’s Cera Blanchard shut the Huskies down in the top of the seventh to give the Lady Lions the late victory.
 
For Southeastern, Blanchard came in and pitched 4.2 innings of scoreless relief with only one hit, two walks, and eight strikeouts to move her record to 17-6. Greely and Watson had two hits and two RBIs apiece.
 
For HCU, four pitchers combined to give up eight hits and strike out six, with Swanson tagged with the loss. The Huskies were limited to three hits in the game.