STARKVILLE, Miss. – The Southeastern Louisiana softball team split a pair of non-conference contests on the final day of The Snowman/Alex Wilcox Memorial Tournament Monday at Nusz Park on the Mississippi State campus.
Southeastern (8-8) opened the day with a narrow 4-2 loss to Georgia Tech (7-6). The Lady Lions bounced back with a 7-1 victory over Alcorn State to close out the tournament.
The SLU pitching duo of
Tanner Wright (2-3) and
Alley McDonald combined to hold the Yellow Jackets to six hits in the opening game of the day, but SLU's potent offense was limited to just five hits of its own.
Rebecca Skains led SLU with two hits, while
Bobbi Smith hit her first home run as a Lady Lion in the loss.
Skains paced the Southeastern offense in the nightcap, recording a team-high three RBI. She,
Madison Watson and
Ali McCoy each had two hits apiece in the win over the Lady Braves.
Sophie Hannabas (2-2) scattered five hits in four innings to earn the victory in the circle, while the quartet of
Briahna Bennett, McCoy,
Caitlyn VanHemelryck and
Shelby Sitzman combined to throw three innings of scoreless relief.
The Lady Lions will return home to host Kent State on Wednesday at 4 p.m. at North Oak Park. LionVision subscribers will be able to access a live video stream (no audio) of Wednesday's game at
www.LionSports.net/watch.
Wednesday will also be a Cane's Challenge. If the Lady Lions score three or more runs, fans can take their game ticket or student coupon to their local participating Raising Cane's by the end of business on Thursday to receive a free combo with the purchase of another of equal or greater value.
Game One – Georgia Tech 4, Southeastern Louisiana 2
Georgia Tech touched up Wright in the bottom of the first inning to take the early advantage. After the Yellow Jackets loaded the bases with one out, Wright hit Skye Webb to force in a run. Drew Puckett then lifted a fly out deep enough to center to score another run and put Tech up, 2-0.
Both teams stranded multiple runners in the second inning. McCoy and
Ella Manzer each drew walks to put a pair on with one out, but Georgia Tech starter Amber Johns (3-3) retired
Pryscilla Prince and
Madisen Blackford to get out of the inning. McDonald replaced Wright in the bottom of the second and got out of a bases loaded jam to keep SLU within two.
The Lady Lions got on the board in the top of the fourth inning. Skains led off the frame with a double to collect SLU's first hit of the contest. After advancing to third on a Manzer fly out, Skains scored on a sacrifice bunt by
Mima Doucet to pull Southeastern to within one at 2-1.
Georgia Tech got the run back with interest in its half of the fifth. A Tricia Awald walk and a double by Crosby Huckabay put runners at second and third with one out. A single by Webb scored one run and Huckabay would score on an error by Blackford to put the Yellow Jackets up, 4-1.
Southeastern threatened in the sixth inning, as
Lindsey Rizzo and Skains led off the frame with consecutive singles. Yellow Jacket reliever Brooke Barfield was able to recover to retire Manzer, Doucet and McCoy to keep the Lady Lions down by three.
SLU mounted one last rally in the top of the seventh inning. With two outs, Smith hit a solo shot over the centerfield fence to cut the Georgia Tech lead to 4-2. However, Barfield retired Ramon to earn her first save of the season.
Game Two – Southeastern Louisiana 7, Alcorn State 1
SLU threated against ASU starter Ambria Dorsey (0-3) in the top of the first inning. Ramon reached on an error and Rizzo walked to put a pair on. On a double steal, the throw from the catcher got away, but Ramon was thrown out trying to score off the error and Alcorn got out of the inning with no damage.
A couple of singles and a walk allowed the Lady Braves to load the bases against Hannabas in their half of the first. The Mansfield, Texas native forced Keelee Huff to hit a comebacker to the circle for the final out to keep the game scoreless.
After stranding two more runners in the second, SLU got on the board in the third. Ramon singled, stole second, advanced to third on a Rizzo single and scored on an RBI groundout by Skains. Rizzo would later score on an RBI single by Watson to put the Lady Lions up, 2-0.
Alcorn got a run back in the bottom of the third inning. Amari Ramsey singled and scored on an RBI single by Huff to cut the Southeastern advantage to 2-1.
The speedy Prince got SLU going in the top of the fourth inning. After reaching on an error to lead off the frame, she stole second and third, then scored on another error. The inning's scoring continued on a two-run single by Skains that put the Lady Lions ahead, 5-1.
After scoring in the third, Alcorn State never threated again in the game, as Hannabas, Bennett, McCoy, VanHemelryck and Sitzman combined to hold the Lady Braves to one hit over the final four innings. RBI singles by McCoy and
Karlee Kraft in the top of the sixth inning closed out the scoring.
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.
