Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana senior Taylor Bishop tossed 10.2 shutout innings to lead the Lady Lions to a pair of victories on the final day of the Lion Classic Sunday afternoon at North Oak Park.
 
Southeastern (5-1) opened the day with a 5-1 victory over Tennessee State. Freshman second baseman Angelica Gutierrez and junior third baseman Mychal Truxillo each drove in two runs to pace the offensive effort, while Bishop (4-0) allowed one hit in five shutout innings in her first start of the season.
 
Heads up base running by Truxillo, sophomore Brittney Wingate and senior shortstop Katie Lacour provided the winning runs in the bottom of the fourth inning as the Lady Lions rallied past Mississippi Valley State for a 6-3 victory in the nightcap. Bishop came in trailing, 3-0, in the second inning and toyed with the Delta Devils, allowing two hits and retiring 12 straight batters at one point on the way to the win.
 
Southeastern finished with the best record among the tournament field over the three days, posting a 5-1 record. Both Nicholls and Tennessee-Martin were each 4-1 during the Lion Classic.
 
The aggressive base running that keyed the victory over MVSU was a theme throughout the weekend, as the Lady Lions were 13-for-16 on stolen base attempts – just two fewer stolen bases than the team tallied in all of 2015.
 
Base running was one of the positives first year-head coach Rick Fremin took out of the opening weekend.
 
"I'm very pleased with the results of the opening weekend," Fremin commented. "We saw a lot of good things and I was especially pleased with the good base running, as I thought we did an excellent job sliding to avoid tags. It was a total team effort to get these five wins and we were able to play a lot of people. We're still looking for the right combination of players who are going to give us the best chance to win, but we had a lot of players contribute, which is a good sign.
 
"We had several individual performances stand out in our lineup this weekend," Fremin added. "We were very impressed with the efforts of Lacour, Truxillo, (sophomore outfielder Kinsey) Nichols and (senior first baseman Amber) Sather."
 
While Fremin was quick to point out the successful tournament was a team effort, it was tough to deny the contributions of Bishop. The Sugar Land, Texas native won all four games she pitched in, posting a 0.98 ERA, as well as 14 strikeouts versus just three walks in 21.2 innings pitched.
 
"I went to Taylor before the games today and told her how valuable her pitching was to our team," Fremin said. "I told her that we were going to have to lean on her at times and asked her to always let me know whether she could give me a few innings or not. When we needed her in our second game today, she said she could go and she bailed us out. This weekend was a total team effort without question, but we're very proud of Taylor's performance."
 
The 5-1 start left a smile on the first-year head coach's face, but there were several areas in which Fremin sees room for improvement moving forward.
 
"We have to do a better job of barreling balls up with runners in scoring position and stringing together hits," Fremin said. "We also have to working on getting bunts down consistently. Pitching-wise, as a staff we gave up too many leadoff walks and that's something we're going to have to cut down on."
 
Southeastern will continue its 11-game season-opening home stand with a four-game series versus Alabama A&M at North Oak Park. On Friday, the teams will meet in a 3 p.m. doubleheader with the series closing on Saturday with a 12 p.m. doubleheader. Live stats and live video (LionVision subscription required) will be accessible for the entire series at LionSports.net.
 
Game One – Southeastern Louisiana 5, Tennessee State 1
Southeastern opened the scoring in the bottom of the second inning versus TSU pitcher Lauren Woodard (1-2). With two outs, Truxillo laced a single up the middle. Gutierrez following with a double down the third base line to score Truxillo and give SLU an early 1-0 lead.
 
The one run was more than enough for Bishop, who only allowed a bloop single in the top of the second inning. In her five innings of work, Bishop never allowed a Tiger to get into scoring position.
 
Southeastern added to its lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. A double by Sather and a single by junior designated player Lacey Fritz put runners at the corners with one out. Truxillo plated pinch runners Amanda Livaudais and Carlie Whittington with a double down the left field line. Gutierrez followed with her second double of the game to score Truxillo and stake Southeastern to a commanding 4-0 lead.
 
With Bishop out of the game, TSU scratched across a run in the top of the sixth inning. Centerfielder Courtney Geralds singled and later scored on an RBI double by left fielder Abi Stephens to cut the lead to 4-1.
 
Southeastern got the run back in the bottom of the sixth. Sophomore second baseman Grace DeLee drew a walk and scored on a pair of Tennessee State errors to make it 5-1. Freshman Caitlyn VanHemelryck pitched a scoreless seventh inning to close out the victory.
 
TSU – 000 001 0 – 1 5 4 (1-4)
SLU – 010 301 x – 5 6 0 (4-1)
Lauren Woodard and Whitney Ennis. Taylor Bishop, Madison Vige' (6), Caitlyn VanHemelryck (7) and Whitney Sullivan, Carlie Whittington (7). W – Bishop (3-0). L – Woodard (1-2). 2B – TSU: Abi Stephens (2); SLU: Amber Sather (2), Mychal Truxillo (1), Angelica Gutierrez 2 (2). T – 1:34. A – 250.
 
Game Two – Southeastern Louisiana 6, Mississippi Valley State 3
Mississippi Valley State jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first inning against freshman pitcher Peyton Pigniolo. RBI singles by third baseman Deja Talton, catcher Alexandra Dobbins and designated player Jordan Brown staked the Delta Devils to a 3-0 advantage.
 
MVSU was threatening to add to its lead in the second inning, chasing Pigniolo with runners on second and third and one out. After walking the first batter she faced, Bishop retired the next two to get out of the frame unscathed.
 
Southeastern cut into the lead in the bottom of the second inning. Freshman outfielder Taylor Estain led off the inning with a single and later scored on an RBI single by Gutierrez. Lacour would add an RBI single of her own later in the inning to pull SLU within, 3-2.
 
The Lady Lions tied the score in the bottom of the third inning, thanks in large part to heads up base running by Estain and Livaudais. Livaudais pinch ran for Sather after a leadoff walk, moved to second on a ground out and stole third base. After drawing a walk to put runners on the corners with two outs, Estain got caught in a rundown between first and second, but avoided being tagged out long enough for Livaudais to score the tying run.
 
MVSU errors and aggression on the base paths gave Southeastern the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth inning. Truxillo led off the inning with a single, but MVSU pitcher Rebekah Clinton (0-3) retired the next two batters. Wingate then hit a ball right at Sharia Comier at second base, but she booted the ball into the outfield.
 
Running on contact, Truxillo raced all the way home, deftly avoiding the tag to score the go-ahead run. Meanwhile, Wingate moved up to second on the late throw home. Next up was Lacour who beat out a bunt single to third base. Wingate was also running on contact and was able to score from second, as she – like Truxillo – also made a nifty slide around the tag at home.
 
While the Delta Devils were concentrating on Wingate, the speedy Lacour raced all the way to third to give Southeastern another runner in scoring position. The Port St. Joe, Florida native would score four pitches later when Nichols lined an RBI single to left field to give Southeastern a 6-3 lead.
 
The three-run cushion was more than safe with Bishop in the circle. After giving up a one-out single in the third inning, Bishop retired 12 straight batters before a one-out single by Comier in the top of the seventh inning. Comier would stay stranded, as Bishop induced a weak ground out by Talton and struck out pinch hitter Brianna Johnson to secure the triumph.
 
MVS – 300 000 0 – 3 8 5 (0-5)
SLU – 021 300 x – 6 8 0 (5-1)
Rebekah Clinton and Alexandra Dobbins. Peyton Pigniolo, Taylor Bishop (2) and Whitney Sullivan, Carlie Whittington (7). W – Bishop (4-0). L – Clinton (0-3). 2b – MVS: Kailyn Dunn, Sharia Comier. T – 2:07. A – 554.
 
2016 Lion Classic
 
Friday, February 12
 
Field One
Tennessee-Martin 4, Buffalo 3
Southeastern Louisiana 8, Buffalo 4
Southeastern Louisiana 8, Tennessee State 0 (5 innings)
 
Field Two
Southern Illinois 3, Tennessee-Martin 0
Nicholls 2, Southern Illinois 0
Tennessee State 10, Mississippi Valley State 2 (5 innings)
Nicholls 11, Mississippi Valley State 0 (5 innings)
 
Saturday, February 13
 
Field One
Tennessee-Martin 8, Mississippi Valley State 1
Southern Illinois 12, Mississippi Valley State 0 (6 Innings)
Southeastern Louisiana 5, Southern Illinois 4
Tennessee-Martin 9, Southeastern Louisiana 1 (6 Innings)
 
Field Two
Buffalo 7, Tennessee State 1
Nicholls 13, Tennessee State 4 (5 innings)
Nicholls 3, Buffalo 1
 
Sunday, February 14
 
Field One
Southeastern Louisiana 5, Tennessee State 1
Southeastern Louisiana 6, Mississippi Valley State 3
 
Field Two
Southern Illinois 8, Buffalo 0
Tennessee-Martin 3, Nicholls 0
 
Tournament Standings
Southeastern Louisiana - 5-1
Tennessee-Martin - 4-1
Nicholls - 4-1
Southern Illinois 3-2
Buffalo 1-4
Tennessee State 1-4
Mississippi Valley State 0-5