HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana softball team will host its second straight tournament to open the season this week, as the six-team, three-day Lion Classic II opens Friday at North Oak Park.
 
The Lady Lions (4-3) will open the tournament on Friday with games versus Prairie View (3-1) at 3 p.m. and Missouri State (3-2) at 5 p.m. On Saturday, SLU opens the day with a 1:30 p.m. contest versus Southland Conference foe Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (1-4), before closing the day with a matchup versus former league rival UTSA (1-4) at 3:30 p.m. The Lady Lions close the tournament with an 11 a.m. game versus SIU-Edwardsville (0-0) on Sunday.
 
All of Southeastern's games will be played on Field One. Live stats for all games on Field One will be available at www.LionSports.net/sidearmstats/softball. LionVision subscribers will be able to access a live video stream (no audio) of Friday and Sunday's games on Field One.
 
Southeastern enters the tournament with a .359 team batting average. Ella Manzer, the reigning Southland Conference Hitter of the Week, leads SLU with a .647 batting average, followed by Rebecca Skains (.583), Pryscilla Prince (.545) and Jaquelyn Ramon (.474).
 
Manzer and Skains share the team lead with seven RBI apiece. Manzer is the lone Lady Lion to homer thus far in 2018, while Skains paces the roster with six doubles and two triples.
 
Southeastern's traditional aggressiveness on the base paths under fourth-year head coach Rick Fremin has begun in earnest in 2019, as SLU has swiped 27 bags through the first seven games. Ramon, the school's career leader with 130 steals, has a team-high nine stolen bases, followed by Bobbi Smith and Pryscilla Prince with six and four steals, respectively.
 
Sophie Hannabas (1-2, 3.65 ERA), Alley McDonald (1-0, 2.33 ERA) and Tanner Wright (2-0, 2.40 ERA) have handled the majority of the pitching duties for a Lady Lion staff that has a 3.65 team earned run average.
 
Prairie View is led at the plate by Megan Jimenez (7 RBI) and Destinee Williams (.556 batting average). Six Panther pitchers have combined for a 3.50 team ERA.
 
Missouri State is paced offensively by the trio of Morgan Greenlee (.500), Kyam Mason (.400) and Steffany Dickerson (.364). Dickerson doubles as the Bears' ace, coming to Hammond with a 2-1 record and microscopic 0.43 ERA.
 
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi will be looking to get on track after a rough opening weekend against a monster field at the Ragin' Cajun Classic in Lafayette. The Islanders are hitting .160 as a team and boast a 16.62 team ERA.
 
Celeste Loughman (.389) and Kaitlin Lopez (2 HR) highlight the UTSA lineup. Madison Nelson (1-2, 3.10 ERA) has handled the majority of the innings in the circle for the Roadrunners.
 
Rounding out the field is SIU-Edwardsville, which will be making its 2019 debut this weekend in Hammond. The Cougars were 25-21 a season ago.
 
After this week's tournament, SLU will have played 12 games in the season's first 11 days. The Lady Lions have no midweek games on next week's schedule before they head to Starkville, Mississippi to compete in The Snowman, hosted by Mississippi State next Friday through Sunday.
 
2019 Lion Classic II – February 15-17, 2019 – North Oak Park
 
Friday, February 15
 
Field One
11 a.m. – UTSA vs. SIU-Edwardsville (LionVision)
1 p.m. – Prairie View vs. SIU-Edwardsville (LionVision)
3 p.m. – Southeastern Louisiana vs. Prairie View (LionVision)
5 p.m. – Southeastern Louisiana vs. Missouri State (LionVision)
 
Field Three
1 p.m. – UTSA vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
3 p.m. – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi vs. Missouri State
 
Saturday, February 16
 
Field One
11 a.m. – SIU-Edwardsville vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
1:30 p.m. – Southeastern Louisiana vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
3:30 p.m. – Southeastern Louisiana vs. UTSA
 
Field Three
11 a.m. – Missouri State vs. Prairie View
1:30 p.m. – UTSA vs. Prairie View
3:30 p.m. – SIU-Edwardsville vs. Missouri State
 
Sunday, February 17
 
Field One
11 a.m. – Southeastern Louisiana vs. Prairie View (LionVision)
 
Field Three
11 a.m. – Missouri State vs. UTSA
 
Home team in bold
 
CLEAR BAG POLICY
Southeastern Athletics has instituted a clear bag policy for all ticketed events (softball, baseball, football and basketball), effective with the start of the 2018 football season. For more information on the clear bag policy, visit www.LionSports.net/clear.
 
HOME RUN CLUB / S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the softball program are encouraged to join the Home Run Club. Lady Lion softball alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letter winners.
 
All membership fees and donations to both the Home Run Club and S Club (softball) are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern softball program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Softball, follow @SLUlionsoftball on Twitter and Instagram, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.