Portions of this story courtesy of lionsports.net
BATON ROUGE, La. – The two-time defending Southland Conference Tournament champion Southeastern Louisiana University softball team took down No. 10 LSU, 4-3, on the opening day of the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional Friday evening at Tiger Park.
With the win, Southeastern (49-14) advances to face Nebraska (40-13), which defeated UConn, 10-2, in Friday's opening game, Saturday at noon in the 1-0 game. The host Tigers (41-15) will face UConn (35-18) in a 2:30 p.m. elimination game Saturday.
The win for Southeastern was just the second-ever for the Lady Lions in 26 meetings versus the Tigers. It was the first victory for SLU since a 1-0 win over LSU on April 30, 2007.
"We've had a lot of close calls here and we had to play like warriors to get a victory," Southeastern head coach
Rick Fremin said. "This group never quits fighting and I'm proud of our effort tonight to earn a win in this stacked Baton Rouge Regional."
Cydnee Schneider singled home the tie-breaking run in the top of the seventh inning.
Lainee Bailey (6-1) tossed 4.2 innings of no-hit relief to earn the win in the circle.
LSU struck first in the bottom of the second inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, Jalia Lassiter laced a two-run ground rule double into the left centerfield gap to score a pair of Tigers and give LSU a 2-0 lead.
SLU mounted its first threat in the top of the third inning, as
Shenita Tucker walked and
Shelby Morris beat out a bunt single to put a pair of runners on with one out. However, LSU starter Jayden Heavener retired the next two Lady Lions to keep Southeastern off the board.
The Tigers padded their lead in their half of the third. An RBI single by Jadyn Laneaux extended LSU's advantage to 3-0.
Southeastern tied it up in the top of the fourth inning.
Maddie Watson doubled in the first run of the frame.
Kailey Dixon drove in a run on an RBI fielder's choice and
Colleen Kulivan later scored on a wild pitch by Heavener to tie the score at 3-3.
SLU took the lead in the top of the seventh inning. After Heavener hit
Maria Detillier, Schneider laced a single to right centerfield. Detillier was running with the pitch and raced all the way home to put the Lady Lions on top, 4-3.
Bailey made it stand up in the bottom of the seventh inning, despite allowing two walks to put a pair of runners on with one out. McKenzie Redoutey hit a line drive that Kulivan was able to race down in left centerfield. Sierra Daniel roped a line drive that Detillier snagged to clinch the win.