LAFAYETTE, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana softball team closed out tournament play at the Louisiana Classics on a high note with a 9-1 five-inning victory over UMBC on Saturday evening at Lamson Park.
 
SLU (9-5) ended the day with an 11-hit attack to pull away from the Retrievers (1-7). Senior Mahalia Gibson, freshman Madison Watson and sophomore Ali McCoy each had two hits apiece, while sophomore Tanner Wright (2-0) and freshman Shelby Sitzman combined to hold UMBC to just one hit.
 
Southeastern ended the tournament on a high note after falling in the day's opener, 8-2, to Memphis (7-4). Southeastern head coach Rick Fremin was pleased with his team's response in the weekend's final game.
 
"This wasn't our best weekend," Fremin commented. "That being said, I challenged our team to respond heading into today's final game. We played like we are capable of and we played our style of softball. I was very impressed with how we bounced back after a bit of a tough start to the tournament. We finished strong, which is encouraging moving forward."
 
This week featured the first of two pre-conference tournaments for the Lady Lions. Southeastern will compete in the Mizzou Tournament on March 2-3 in Columbia, Missouri. On Friday, March 2, SLU will face Creighton (10 a.m.) and the host Tigers (12 p.m.). SLU will face Drake at 10 a.m. and Missouri at 12 p.m. on Saturday, March 3.

Game One – Memphis 8, Southeastern Louisiana 2
Memphis jumped on top versus SLU senior Rachel Hayes (2-3) in the bottom of the first inning. Senior Brooke Lee powered a two-run home run over the left field fence to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead.
 
Southeastern tied it up in the top of the second inning. McCoy and senior Peyton Sutton each scored thanks to three Tigers errors to tie the score at 2-2.
 
Memphis took the lead for good on an RBI double by sophomore Erin Parker in the bottom of the second inning. The Tigers added three runs in the third and two runs in the fifth to secure the victory.
 
Memphis freshman Mariah Nichols (2-2) struck out seven and held SLU to four hits in the complete-game victory. Junior Rebecca Skains led SLU with two hits.
 
Game Two – Southeastern Louisiana 9, UMBC 1 (5 Innings)
UMBC struck first in the top of the first inning versus Wright. Sophomore Maddie Daigneau tripled and scored on an error by Gibson to stake the Retrievers to a 1-0 lead.
 
Southeastern answered in the bottom of the first inning. Junior Jaquelyn Ramon walked and Gibson plated her with an RBI double. Skains followed with an RBI single to give the Lady Lions a 2-1 lead.
 
SLU broke open the game in the bottom of the second inning against UMBC senior Kim Puccio (1-5) in the bottom of the second inning. RBI singles by senior Kinsey Nichols, Ramon and Gibson highlighted a four-run frame that put SLU firmly ahead, 6-1.
 
The Lady Lions erased any UMBC comeback hopes in the bottom of the third inning. Freshman Madisen Blackford and senior Maddie Edmonston both drove in runs, while another run came in on a Retriever error to push SLU ahead, 9-1.
 
Wright made it stand up before giving way to Sitzman, who threw a scoreless fifth to secure the mercy-rule win.