HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana softball team's bats came alive in a pair of wins on day two of Lion Classic I on Saturday at North Oak Park.
Southeastern (3-2) opened the day with a 5-2 comeback victory over Northern Illinois. The Lady Lions then closed out the day's action with a 19-4 five-inning rout of Mississippi Valley State.
In the win over NIU (2-2), the Lady Lions scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to overcome a two-run deficit.
Briahna Bennett's three-run double highlighted the offensive effort, while
Jaquelyn Ramon and
Pryscilla Prince collected two hits apiece.
Alley McDonald (1-0) threw 1.2 innings of shutout relief to earn the victory in the circle.
Southeastern set a new school record for runs in an inning with 16 runs in the first inning on the way to the victory over MVSU (0-3).
Bobbi Smith led SLU with four RBI, while
Ali McCoy (3 RBI),
Mima Doucet (2 RBI) and
Rebecca Skains (2 RBI) also had multiple runs driven in. Four different pitchers saw action for the Lady Lions with
Tanner Wright (1-0) claiming the win.
In Saturday's other games, Northern Illinois defeated Mississippi Valley State, 8-0, while Nicholls beat San Jose State, 3-2. Southern Illinois picked up victories over Nicholls and San Jose State.
Southeastern will close out the tournament on Sunday with a 12 p.m. contest versus Mississippi Valley State.
Game One – Southeastern Louisiana 5, Northern Illinois 2
NIU loaded the bases with no outs versus SLU starter
Sophie Hannabas in the top of the first inning. Hannabas settled down and limited the Huskies to just one run, as Northern Illinois took an early 1-0 lead.
Southeastern put a pair of runners in scoring position with one out in the bottom of the second inning. However,
Anna Rodenberg got caught down in a run down, then McCoy popped out to end SLU's threat.
Both Hannabas and NIU starter Alex Frenz (0-1) cruised over the next several innings, before Northern Illinois threatened in the top of the fifth inning. The Huskies put runners on the corners with one out, but Hannabas made a nice scoop to spoil a suicide squeeze attempt and Skains snagged a Sam Schmidt line drive to keep SLU within one.
SLU mounted a threat of its own in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Prince doubled and McCoy walked to put two runners on with one out, but Frenz recovered to retire
Madisen Blackford and Smith to maintain the 1-0 lead.
Northern Illinois added to its lead in the top of the sixth inning, as an RBI single by Kayla Scaperrotta chased Hannabas from the game with one out. After McDonald entered, Ramon made a fantastic diving catch that resulted in a double play to keep Southeastern within two.
Southeastern finally got to Frenz in the bottom of the sixth inning. Ramon beat out an infield single, then Skains and
Ella Manzer drew consecutive walks to load the bases with no outs. Bennett then roped a double into the right centerfield gap to clear the bases and chase Franz from the contest.
Later in the inning, heads up base running by Bennett and Prince resulted in two runs to send SLU into the final inning. Northern Illinois got a runner to third in its final trip to the plate, but McDonald forced Schmidt to ground out for the game's final out.
Game Two – Southeastern Louisiana 19, Mississippi Valley State 4
MVSU touched up SLU starter
Karlee Kraft for a run in the top of the first inning. Deshonte Smith doubled home Lexany Terrones to give the Delta Devils a 1-0 lead.
But Southeastern answered quickly with the most prolific inning in the history of the program. The Lady Lions sent 21 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first, collecting 11 hits against MVSU pitchers Alejandra Salazar (0-1) and Mercedes Silva. The 16 runs bested the 12 runs scored in the seventh inning of a 16-2 victory at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi last March.
SLU added to its lead in the bottom of the second inning.
Madisen Blackford singled and scored on a pair of MVSU errors to give Southeastern a 17-1 lead.
A two-run double by Blackford put the Lady Lions up, 19-1, after three innings. A three-run home run by Demi Slater in the top of the fourth inning closed the final margin. The 19 runs scored by SLU were one off the single-game school record set in a 20-3 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on April 8, 2015.
2019 Lion Classic I – February 8-10, 2019 – North Oak Park (Hammond, La.)
Tournament Standings
Southeastern – 3-1
Nicholls – 2-1
San Jose State – 2-2
Northern Illinois – 2-2
Southern Illinois – 2-2
Mississippi Valley State – 0-3
Friday, February 8
Field One
Nicholls 9, Southern Illinois 0 (5 Innings)
Southeastern Louisiana 4, Southern Illinois 3
Northern Illinois 7, Southeastern Louisiana 3
Field Three
San Jose State 3, Northern Illinois 2
San Jose State 4, Mississippi Valley State 0
Saturday, February 9
Field One
Northern Illinois 8, Mississippi Valley State 0 (5 Innings)
Southeastern Louisiana 5, Northern Illinois 2
Southeastern Louisiana 19, Mississippi Valley State (5 Innings)
Nicholls 3, San Jose State 2
Field Three
Southern Illinois 7, Nicholls 6
Southern Illinois 6, San Jose State 1
Sunday, February 10
Field One
10 a.m. –
Nicholls vs. San Jose State
12 p.m. –
Southeastern Louisiana vs. Mississippi Valley State
Field Three
10 a.m. – Southern Illinois vs.
Mississippi Valley State
12 p.m. – Nicholls vs.
Northern Illinois
Home teams 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.
