HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana junior outfielder
Maddie Edmonston and freshman infielder
Ali McCoy each hit their first home runs of their Lady Lion careers to help SLU complete a Southland Conference series sweep of Lamar with a 5-3 victory in league softball action on Super Lion Saturday afternoon at North Oak Park.
Southeastern (17-18, 6-6 Southland) evened its Southland Conference record and improved to 6-0 in home conference games. Lamar, which came to Hammond having won 11 of its last 13 games, fell to 17-18 overall and 8-4 in league play with its third consecutive loss.
For the first time this season, the Lady Lions went into a series with a full roster of healthy players.
"It was a good feeling to see nobody wearing shorts in the dugout and a blank injury report," Southeastern head coach
Rick Fremin said. "We played together as a team all series and our attitude in the dugout was excellent all weekend. I challenged our players and they really came together and executed our game plan, which allowed us to take a series from a very good conference opponent in Lamar."
Edmonston and sophomore shortstop
Jaquelyn Ramon led SLU with two hits apiece. McCoy drove in a team-high two runs and scored two runs as well. Junior
Lacey Hill (7-6) scattered five hits in 5.2 innings of relief to earn her team-high seventh victory of 2017.
Lamar took a 1-0 lead against SLU junior
Rachel Hayes in the top of the first inning without the benefit of a hit. In the inning, Hayes walked Ashley McDowell, Brynn Baca, Shelby Henderson and Sable Hankins to force in the game's first run.
As they did all series, SLU answered right back in the bottom of the second inning against LU ace Ciara Luna (5-11). With one out, freshman designated player
Mattie Ort ripped a single up the middle. McCoy followed by lining the next pitch past a diving McDowell in left field. The ball rolled all the way into the corner, giving the Maurepas, Louisiana native a two-run inside-the-park home run and stake SLU to a 2-1 lead.
LU tied it up with an unearned run in the top of the third. Baca reached on an error and eventually scored on an RBI groundout by Henderson to knot the game at 2-2.
The Lady Lions retook the lead in the bottom of the frame. Junior outfielder
Kalyn Watts reached on an error by Hankins and later scored on another error by Luna to give SLU a 3-2 advantage.
Lamar answered again in the top of the fourth inning. Shelby Hughston put the tying run aboard with a bunt single, then scored on a two-out RBI hit by Brittany Rodriguez.
SLU took the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth inning. McCoy led off the Southeastern turn with a walk, then moved to second on a sac bunt by junior catcher
Carlie Whittington. McCoy then scored on a throwing error by Baca. Edmonston followed by lining a 0-2 pitch over the left field fence. The St. Amant, Louisiana native's first home run of the season pushed the SLU lead to 5-3.
Lamar mounted one last threat, loading the bases with one out in the top of the seventh inning. Hill pitched out of the jam, forcing Corina Thornton to ground into a game-ending double play to close out the victory.
Southeastern will now head back on the road, traveling to Houston for a three-game Southland set at Houston Baptist. On Friday, the series opens with a 1 p.m. doubleheader, followed by Saturday's 12 p.m. series finale.
"We've proved that we can be a good conference team at home," Fremin said. "Now our next challenge is to come together as a team to win on the road. We're starting to see some of our players steadily improving and as we head into April and May, hopefully we can continue to move forward to become the team we want to be."