No. 1 McNeese Defeats No. 3 Lamar to Reach Southland Championship
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LAKE CHARLES, La. – Top-seeded tournament host McNeese earned a spot in the Southland Conference Softball Tournament championship with an 8-4 victory over third-seeded Lamar Thursday evening at the Cowgirl Diamond in Lake Charles, La. The Cowgirls look to earn their first tournament title since 2010.
McNeese (41-12, 23-4 Southland) got on the board early as sophomore second baseman Haley Drew doubled to right center to bring in sophomore third baseman, Player of the Year Erika Piancastelli. Junior right fielder Tori Yanitor then homered to left field to bring in Drew. Senior shortstop Taylor Goree had single RBI to give the Cowgirls a 4-0 lead in the first inning.
The Cardinals tallied two runs in the third. The first came off a RBI from senior shortstop Stephanie Meeuwsen, and the second from a walk with bases loaded. Meeuwsen would later bring in another run the third to cut the Cowgirls lead to one.
In the top of the fourth, Piancastelli doubled down the left-field line for a two-run RBI. Piancastelli advanced to third on a wild pitch before sophomore designated player Morgan Catron doubled to bring her home. In the following inning, McNeese would get an unearned run from senior shortstop Taylor Goree off an error by Lamar’s Meeuwsen.
Lamar earned one run in the top of the sixth after junior center Brynn Baca doubled to bring in a walked Meeuwsen.
McNeese allowed four runs and seven hits in the game behind senior pitcher Jamie Allred, who tossed for 5.2 innings, improving to 17-3 on the year. The Cardinals’ offense was led by Meeuwsen who recorded one hit, two runs and one RBI.
Lamar starting pitcher, Newcomer of the Year Ciara Luna took the loss, falling to 16-8 on the year. Luna only tossed for .2 innings before senior right-hander Lauren Dannelley came into the game in relief.
McNeese will face the winner of tomorrow morning’s back draw semifinals between Cardinals and the winner of tonight’s game in the Southland softball tournament championship, first pitch will take place at 2:00 p.m. in Lake Charles.
Third-seeded Lamar (34-21, 18-9 Southland) will now play in tomorrow morning’s back draw semifinal against the winner of tonight’s game between No. 2 seed Nicholls and No. 5 Stephen F. Austin. First pitch is slated for 10:30 a.m. tomorrow from the Cowgirl Diamond
The Southland title game is slated for a 2 p.m. tomorrow with a possibility of second game for the tournament championship. The 11th game would be played in the event an undefeated team lost in the title game forcing a second game for the tournament championship, upholding the double elimination format. Game 11 start time is to be determined.
The winner of the Southland softball tournament receives the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
For more information on the tournament, including a link to
live stats, please visit
Southland.org. For updates and the most current information throughout the tournament please follow the Southland Conference on twitter at SouthlandSports and use the hashtag “SLCSoftball”.
The first nine games of the 2016 Southland Softball Tournament will be streamed live for free on the Southland Conference Digital Network, including
Southland.org/watch and the league's mobile and tablet apps. The championship round will be an exclusive presentation of ESPN3, available via
WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app. Chris Mycoskie, Assistant Commissioner of Television and Electronic Media for the Southland Conference, will handle play-by play for all games. Former University of Houston outfielder Sydney Gerbracht will join him for the championship as the color analyst.