HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana softball team will embark on its final non-conference weekend this week, traveling to Montgomery, Alabama for the three-day Black and Gold III Tournament at the Barbara Williams Softball Complex on the Alabama State campus.
 
The Lady Lions (9-8) will open tournament play on Friday, facing Tennessee Tech (3-5) at 10 a.m. and Eastern Kentucky (3-8) at 12:30 p.m. On Saturday, SLU takes on Purdue Fort Wayne (4-6) at 9 a.m. and host Alabama State (8-5) at 5:30 p.m. Southeastern closes the tournament on Sunday with a noon contest versus Western Illinois (4-4).
 
Southeastern is coming off a 7-5 victory over Kent State on Wednesday. Rebecca Skains led a 10-hit attack with three hits, while Bobbi Smith and Mima Doucet each collected two RBI.
 
SLU leads the Southland Conference with a .325 team batting average, as Ella Manzer (.455, 3^rd), Lindsey Rizzo (.395, 9th) and Rebecca Skains (.393, 10th) each rank among the league leaders. Jaquelyn Ramon leads the Southland with 16 runs scored and is second in the league with 12 walks.
 
Manzer leads the team with two home runs, as she (11, 9^th), Skains (13, 5^th) and Smith (12, 7^th) are all among the Southland Conference leaders in RBI's. Skains tops the conference with eight doubles, while Smith's three triples are also the current Southland standard.
 
Under fourth-year head coach Rick Fremin, Southeastern has twice led Division I in stolen bases. With a nation-leading 79 through the first 17 games, the Lady Lions have continued their trademark aggressive base running in 2019. Ramon (26, 1^st), Smith (12, 2^nd), Rizzo (9, 5^th), Pryscilla Prince (8, 6^th) and Madisen Blackford (7, 8^th) occupy five of the top eight spots on the league's steals leaderboard.
 
Ramon, who leads Division I in stolen bases this season and is Division I's active career steals leader, makes history with every stolen base. The Southland and SLU career record holder with 147 stolen bases, the Channelview, Texas native is two steals shy of cracking the top 25 career leaderboard in Division I history.
 
SLU is taking a pitching-by-committee approach over the first month of the season, as eight different arms have combined for a 2.72 team earned run average – good for fourth in the Southland. Alley McDonald (1-2, 2.40 ERA), Tanner Wright (3-3, 2.28 ERA) and Sophie Hannabas (2-2, 3.21 ERA, 1 save) have handled the bulk of the innings, though Karlee Kraft (2-0, 2.56 ERA), Briahna Bennett (1-1, 3.23 ERA), Shelby Sitzman (0-0, 2.33 ERA), Ali McCoy (0-0, 10.50 ERA) and Caitlyn VanHemelryck (0-0, 0.00 ERA) have also contributed.
 
Tennessee Tech comes in on a three-game losing streak and has not played since Feb. 16. Beth McCulley (.370) is the leading hitter for a Golden Eagle team that is batting .236 on the year. Alyssa Arden (1-2, 4.48 ERA) and Haeli Bryson (1-2, 6.22 ERA) are the primary arms for TTU, which has a 5.45 team ERA.
 
Eastern Kentucky will be looking to snap a four-game skid of its own. The Colonels have 15 home runs through their first 11 games, paced by Destinee Lizzmore's four long balls. Bethany Todd (0-0, 4.03 ERA), Samantha Reynoso (2-1, 3.23 ERA), Mollie Paulick (1-3, 7.17 ERA) and Murphy McRoberts (0-4, 8.22 ERA) have all seen significant time in the circle for EKU.
 
Purdue Fort Wayne, like TTU, has not played for nearly two weeks heading into the tournament. Morganne Denny (.419, 1 HR, 9 RBI) is the top hitter for the Mastodons, while Lauren McConnell (3-1, 2.82 ERA) is the ace of the PFW staff.
 
Host Alabama State heads into the tournament with a team-high .297 batting average. Hailey Walker (.355) has the best batting average among Hornet regulars. Justine Jean (4-2, 3.18 ERA), Vanessa Bradford (3-2, 3.65 ERA) and Charlene Castro (1-1, 1.11 ERA, 1 save) have split time in the circle for ASU.
 
Rounding out the tournament field is Western Illinois, another tournament team that has its early schedule hampered by Mother Nature. Sydney Hollings leads the Leathernecks with a .348 batting average, while Payton Abbott leads the team with two home runs and nine RBI. Abbott (1-1, 1.05 ERA), Emily Ira (2-1, 3.50 ERA), Abby Carlin (1-2, 3.57 ERA) and Savannah Rodriguez (0-0, 3.62 ERA) have combined for a 3.24 staff earned run average.
 
Following this weekend's tournament, Southeastern will return home to host Southern Miss on Wednesday, March 6 at 6:30 p.m. at North Oak Park. The SLU-USM game will feature a Cane's Challenge. If the Lady Lions score three runs or more, fans can take their game ticket or student coupon to their local participating Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers to receive a free combo with the purchase of another of equal or greater value.
 
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.