NATCHITOCHES – Lamar rallied past Southeastern Louisiana, 3-1, in the opening game of the Southland Conference Softball Tournament for both teams Wednesday afternoon at Lady Demon Diamond.
 
Southeastern (21-29) will face either McNeese State or Central Arkansas in an elimination game on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. Lamar (25-26) advanced to face top seed Northwestern State on Wednesday at 8 p.m.
 
In the loss, Southeastern Louisiana junior outfielder Katie Lacour was 3-for-3 with a run scored, adding to her list of school records. Lacour's run was her 44^th of the season, matching the program's single-season school record set by Misty Wagner in 1998. Lacour's three hits moved her career total to 201, besting the previous SLU school mark of 200 set by Heather Sherrill from 2006-09.
 
Lacour scored on an RBI by freshman shortstop Sydney Booker. One of 25 NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year finalists, Booker ran her team-high RBI total to 47.
 
SLU junior Taylor Bishop (14-8) held Lamar to one earned run. However, the Sugar Land, Texas native was out-dueled by Lamar freshman Laura Napoli (18-16), who limited the Lady Lions to five hits.
 
SLU took the lead in the bottom of the first inning. Lacour led off the frame with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI single by Booker to give the Lady Lions a 1-0 lead.
 
Lamar mounted a threat in the top of the second inning, as a double by freshman third baseman Sable Hankins, a bunt single by sophomore catcher Brynn Baca and a walk to junior first baseman Marissa LeJune loaded the bases with one outs. However, Bishop retired junior pinch hitter Taylor Duck and senior second baseman Casey Cromwell to end the threat with SLU maintaining a 1-0 lead.
 
Southeastern mounted a threat of its own in the bottom of the second inning with two outs. Senior second baseman Vanessa Eng doubled into the left field corner, then Lacour drew a walk. However, Napoli forced Lady Lion freshman outfielder Kinsey Nichols to fly out to keep the SLU lead at 1-0.
 
Junior left fielder Sarah Ragsdale led off the top of the third inning with a double just out of the reach of Nichols to put another runner in scoring position for the Lady Cardinals. However, Bishop forced the next two batters to pop out and Booker made a diving stab on a shot by Hankins to get Southeastern out of the inning.
 
Lamar tied the score in the top of the fourth inning. Bishop hit Baca to leadoff the frame, then after Baca advanced to third on the next two outs, Duck beat out an infield single to score Baca and knot the game at 1-1.
 
Bishop again had to pitch out of trouble in the Lady Cardinal fifth. An error by Nichols and a pair of walks allowed Lamar to load the bases. However, Bishop forced sophomore centerfielder Jenna Holland to fly out to keep the score tied at 1.
 
Lamar scored an unearned run in the top of the sixth inning to take its first lead. Lejune led off the frame with a single and was bunted to second by Duck. Cromwell then hit a grounder to Eng, who misplayed it, allowing Lejune to score the go-ahead run and give the Lady Cardinals a 2-1 lead.
 
Another SLU error gave Lamar an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning. Junior shortstop Stephanie Meeuwsen doubled to lead off the inning, then Hankins hit a fly out to center. Lacour caught it, but tried to throw out a tagging Meeuwsen and her throw skipped past senior third baseman Megan Moore, allowing Meeuwsen to score another unearned run to push the LU lead to 3-1.  
 
From that point, a seventh-inning single by Lacour was all Southeastern could manage against Napoli, who set a single-season school record for wins with the complete-game effort.
 
LU – 000 101 1 – 3 7 0 (25-26)
SLU – 100 100 0 – 1 6 3 (21-29)
Laura Napoli and Brynn Baca. Taylor Bishop and Carlie Whittington. W – Napoli (18-16). L – Bishop (14-8). 2B – LU: Sable Hankins (11), Sarah Ragsdale (7), Stephanie Meeuwsen (5); SLU: Vanessa Eng (4). T – 1:56. A - 403.
 
2015 Southland Conference Softball Tournament – May 6-8 – Lady Demon Diamond – Natchitoches, La.
 
Wednesday, May 6
Game 1 – No. 3 Central Arkansas 1, No. 6 A&M-Corpus Christi 0 (13 Innings)
Game 2 –No. 5 Lamar 3, No. 4 Southeastern Louisiana 1
Game 3 – No. 2 McNeese State vs. Central Arkansas, 5:30 p.m.
Game 4 – No. 1 Northwestern State vs. Lamar, 8 p.m.
 
Thursday, May 7
Game 5 – A&M-Corpus Christi vs. Loser Game 4, 11 a.m.
Game 6 – Southeastern Louisiana vs. Loser Game 3, 1:30 p.m.
Game 7 – Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 4 p.m.
Game 8 – Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, 6:30 p.m.
 
Friday, May 8
Game 9 – Loser Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 10:30 a.m.
Game 10 – Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 9, 2 p.m.*
 
* - A second game will be played between the teams in Game 10 to determine the champion if it is the first loss for the losing team. The start time for game 11, if necessary, is TBA