Box Score

HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana senior Heather Sherrill and freshman Meghan Gomez had three hits apiece, as the Lady Lions used an eight-run second inning and held off a late-inning rally to earn a 9-8 victory over defending Southland Conference Tournament champion Stephen F. Austin in the rubber game of a SLC softball series Sunday afternoon at North Oak Park.

Winners of six of their last eight contests, the Lady Lions (16-20) posted their second straight SLC series victory with their win on Sunday. SFA fell to 19-21 overall and 9-9 in league action.

For the third straight game of the three-game series, the game was decided by one run. After two pitcher's duels on Saturday, the two teams' offenses came alive combining for 17 runs and 25 hits. The eight runs scored by SFA were the most the Lady Lions have allowed in a victory since a 17-8 win over St. Louis on Feb. 18, 2007.

After junior pitcher Catherine Gunther struggled in the first inning, freshman Katelyn Thomason (4-6) pitched 6.2 innings of relief to earn the victory. SFA pitcher Lauren Luetge (7-8) gave up nine runs and 10 hits in 5.2 innings to take the loss for the Ladyjacks.

While Southeastern's recent hot streak has been due in large part to the work of Gunther and Thomason in the circle, Sunday's win saw the Lady Lion lineup carry the team to victory.

“We've been getting great performances in the circle, but SFA is one of the best hitting teams in the league and we knew we were going to need to score a lot to beat them this weekend,” Southeastern head coach Pete Langlois said. “We went through some growing pains early in the season, but our newcomers are starting to perform at a high level and continue to adjust to Division I softball. It also doesn't hurt that our most experienced player (Sherrill) is performing like what we expect her to be - the best hitter on our team.”

Sherrill, a native of Alexandria, added another school career record to her collection on Sunday. Already the school's standard bearer with 50 doubles, 71 extra-base hits and 295 total bases, Sherrill drove in her 110th run in the eighth-run second inning, passing former Lady Lion and current Southeastern assistant coach Karin Smith Gadberry, who drove in 109 runs from 2002-05, for the school RBI record.

The only school standard left within reach for Sherrill is the school hits mark. After a strong series, Sherrill needs two hits to tie and three to break the school career hits mark held by former Lady Lion Heather Dye, who had 186 hits for Southeastern from 2000-03.

“Heather struggled earlier this season, but we were confident that she'd be fine once she got back in the groove,” Langlois commented. “She made a few adjustments at the plate and it has made a big difference in her performance. Heather is one of the best players – both offensively and defensively – we've had in this program and we're proud that she has been able to be so productive in her time here.”

Gunther came in to the game having won her last five starts, including a three-hit complete game in Saturday's 3-2 victory. However, SFA had her number from the start in the top of the first inning.

Kendal Harper led off the inning with a double, scoring after consecutive singles by Crystal Garcia and Kim Daley. After retiring Krista Hallmark, Gunther gave up an RBI single to Karissa Jones. Gomez misplayed the short hop in left, allowing Daley to score from first on the error and giving SFA a 3-0 lead. Thomason came in and retired the next two batters to keep the game within reach.

The Lady Lions exploded in the bottom of the second inning to reclaim the lead, sending 12 batters to the plate and posting its highest-scoring inning of the season. Gomez started the frame with a double, advanced to third on a groundout by sophomore Katie Duhe and scored on an RBI single by junior Chelsea Takacs.

Luetge then hit junior Amber Freeman to put runners on first and second, following that by uncorking a wild pitch to allow both runners to move up a base. Sophomore Kelly Lymanthen hit a grounder to short, but Jessica Arana's throw was wide of home, allowing Takacs to score and Lyman to advance all the way to second.

Freshman Jordan Logan followed with a sharp single to center to score Freeman. The ball was booted by Harper, allowing Lyman to score and Logan to scoot all the way around to third base. Luetge recovered to retire sophomore Tamra Ladnier, but the Lady Lions answered with a big two-out rally.

Sherrill started things with her second double of the game, scoring Logan. Senior Allyson McCubbins, who set the school career walks record on Saturday, drew her team-high 20th walk of the season to put runners on first and second.

Gomez then cleared the bases with her first collegiate triple, which gave her two extra-base hits in the inning and scored Sherrill and McCubbins. Duhe capped the scoring, driving in Gomez with a double off the right centerfield fence that gave the Lady Lions an 8-3 lead.

SFA would not go away quietly, however, and cut into the Lady Lion advantage in the top of the fourth inning. Sabrina Johnston led off the frame with a single, which Arana followed with a single to move pinch runner Candise Juarez to second. After Malina Meng bunted the runners over, Harper singled home Juarez. Thomason recovered to force Garcia and Daley to ground out to keep the Lady Lion lead at 8-4.

After Thomason sat the Ladyjacks in order in the fifth, SFA made another dent in the Lady Lion lead in the top of the sixth inning. Johnston led off the inning with a triple off the centerfield fence and scored when Arana followed with a single. Arana would later score on a Garcia RBI single, which put runners at the corners with one out. Thomason again pitched out of trouble, retiring Daley and Hallmark to maintain a two-run advantage.

After Southeastern exploded in the second inning, Luetge settled down and held the Lady Lions scoreless over the next three innings. Southeastern finally broke through again in the bottom of the sixth inning.

With two outs, Logan started a rally with a single up the middle. Ladnier then hit a hot shot down the third base line that Meng robbed of a hit when she made a nice backhanded grab. However, Meng rushed her throw and sent it down the right field line, allowing the speedy Logan to score all the way from first and put Southeastern back up by three.

That insurance run was extremely important as SFA had one last charge in them. Jones led off the inning with a double. Thomason then forced Hugie to line out to center, but Johnston followed with an opposite-field two-run home run to pull the Ladyjacks within one at 9-8. Sherrill then made the play of the game, as Arana hit a chopper in the hole, which Sherrill dove for, secured and then threw over to first from her knees for the inning's second out. Thomason then forced Meng to ground out to secure the wild victory.

Southeastern will be back in action on Wednesday, facing Southern at 3 p.m. in Baton Rouge.