HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana softball team battled to a Southland Conference doubleheader split with Houston Baptist Friday afternoon in North Oak Park.
SLU (21-15, 8-6 Southland) opened the day with an 8-2 victory over the visiting Huskies (7-21, 4-10 Southland). In the nightcap, HBU held off a seventh-inning Lady Lion rally to even the series with a 6-4 win.
Sophomore
Ali McCoy, sophomore
Mattie Ort and senior
Alli Daigle had two hits apiece to fuel Southeastern's offensive attack in the opening game of the day. Senior
Rachel Hayes (8-6) and freshman
Shelby Sitzman combined to hold the Huskies to three hits in the win.
Four SLU errors and an early 6-0 hole were too much for Southeastern to overcome in the nightcap. Senior
Mahalia Gibson drove in all four runs for the Lady Lions, but Houston Baptist senior Stephanie Buenrostro quelled the SLU rally in the final inning to even the series.
The rubber game is set for Saturday at 2 p.m. LionVision subscribers will be able to access a live video stream (no audio) at
www.LionSports.net/watch.
Saturday will be Senior Day and Alumni Day. Southeastern will recognize alumni in attendance and the 2018 senior class of Daigle, Hayes, Gibson,
Carlie Whittington,
Kinsey Nichols,
Grace DeLee,
Maddie Edmonston,
Peyton Sutton and
Lacey Hill in a pregame ceremony.
Game One – Southeastern Louisiana 8, Houston Baptist 2
Southeastern jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning versus HBU freshman Jessica Patak (4-12). Edmonston drew a leadoff walk, stole second, then scored on consecutive fly outs by junior
Jaquelyn Ramon and Gibson. Patak later hit Southeastern junior
Rebecca Skains, who would score the inning's second run on an error by senior Kassie James.
SLU doubled its lead in the bottom of the second inning. Freshman
Madisen Blackford drove in Sutton for the first run of the frame and Daigle came home on a throwing error by junior Demi Janak to put the Lady Lions up, 4-0.
Southeastern blew the game open in the bottom of the third inning. Ort drew a one-out walk, stole second and then scored on an RBI double down the left field line by McCoy. After Daigle drew a walk, Nichols cleared the bases with a triple just inside the right field foul pole to give the Lady Lions a commanding 7-0 advantage.
Hayes mowed through the first nine batters she faced before the Huskies finally got to her in the top of the fourth inning. A fielding error allowed two unearned runs to score and cut the SLU lead to 7-2.
Southeastern closed out the scoring in the bottom of the fourth inning. A pair of HBU errors allowed Skains to score and put the Lady Lions ahead, 8-2. Hayes and Sitzman combined to retire the final nine Houston Baptist batters to close out the win.
Game Two – Houston Baptist 6, Southeastern Louisiana 4
HBU took the lead versus sophomore
Alley McDonald (1-4) in the top of the first inning. RBI singles by Janak and senior Nicole Shedd put the Huskies up, 2-0.
In the top of the third, the Huskies took advantage of three SLU errors to score a pair of runs and extend their lead to 4-0. During the inning, the two teams had to endure a 48-minute weather delay. Janak and Shedd each came up with RBI's in the top of the fourth inning to extend the HBU advantage to 6-0.
Southeastern finally got on the board versus HBU freshman Elliot Estes (2-4) in the bottom of the fifth inning. Nichols singled, Estes hit Edmonston and Ramon reached on a fielder's choice to load the bases with one out. Nichols would later score on a Gibson groundout to cut the Huskies' lead to 6-1.
The Lady Lions would mount one last rally in the bottom of the seventh inning. Singles by Daigle, Nichols and Ramon loaded the bases with one out. Gibson then cleared the bases and chased Estes from the game with a three-run double into the right centerfield gap to pull Southeastern within two at 6-4.
After Buenrostro retired Skains, she hit Ort to bring the tying run to the plate in the form of McCoy, the Lady Lion leader in batting average. McCoy lined a shot that looked destined for the left centerfield gap, but Shedd made a nice running catch to end Southeastern's comeback hopes.
