HOUSTON, Texas – The Southeastern Louisiana softball team opened its Southland Conference road schedule with a doubleheader split at Houston Baptist Friday afternoon at Husky Field.
Southeastern (14-11, 3-2 Southland) rallied for a 5-2 victory in the nightcap, after falling to HBU (12-8, 3-2 Southland), 7-4, in the opener.
A five-run third inning proved the difference in HBU's 7-4 victory in the opener. SLU out-hit the Huskies, 10-5, but left nine on base in the loss.
Lindsey Rizzo,
Bobbi Smith and
Ella Manzer had two hits apiece to lead SLU in the opening game of the twin bill.
Southeastern scored four runs with two outs in the top of the seventh to rally past the Huskies in the nightcap. Rizzo led SLU with two hits and a pair of RBI, while
Tanner Wright (4-3) tossed 3.1 innings of shutout relief to earn the victory.
The series wraps up with a noon contest on Saturday. Live video and stats, provided by HBU, will be accessible on the softball schedule at
www.LionSports.net.
Game One – Houston Baptist 7, Southeastern Louisiana 4
Southeastern mounted its first threat in the top of the first inning. Rizzo reached on an error, then Jessica Patak (3-6) hit
Rebecca Skains and
Mima Doucet to load the bases with two outs. Patak forced
Ali McCoy to foul out to keep SLU off the board.
Houston Baptist broke open the game in the bottom of the third inning. After
Sophie Hannabas (3-3) sat the Huskies down in order in the first two frames, HBU got to the Lady Lion freshman in the third. Consecutive two-run doubles by Caitlyn Brockaway and Brooke Bushman chased Hannabas and highlighted a five-run frame that gave the Huskies a 5-0 lead.
SLU got on the board in the top of the fifth inning. Smith led off the frame with a single, stole second, moved to third on a passed ball and scored on an RBI single by
Jaquelyn Ramon. Rizzo followed with an infield single, then she and Ramon executed a double steal to put a pair of runners in scoring position with no outs.
One out later, Manzer singled home Ramon. However, Patak recovered to retire Doucet and McCoy to keep the Huskies' lead at 5-2.
HBU got the runs back in the bottom of the fifth inning. An RBI double by Demi Janak and a sacrifice fly by Riley Bullen put the Huskies back up by five runs, 7-2.
SLU answered with two more runs in the top of the sixth inning.
Amberlyn Alfano singled and moved to second on a
Madison Watson walk. The two runners advanced on a Ramon groundout, then Alfano scored on a passed ball. Rizzo then hit a comebacker to the circle, but HBU reliever Elliot Estes' throw to first was wild, allowing Watson to score and cut the HBU lead to 7-4.
Southeastern mounted one last threat in the top of the seventh inning. Manzer and Doucet led off the frame with consecutive singles to bring the tying run to the plate. Estes recovered by forcing McCoy to line into a double play and retired Alfano on a groundout to close out the win.
Game Two – Southeastern Louisiana 5, Houston Baptist 2
SLU jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first versus Houston Baptist starter Emma Guindon (5-1). Rizzo flared a single into left centerfield then scored when Skains powered her team-high 10
th double of the season into the right centerfield gap to put the Lady Lions ahead, 1-0.
SLU starter
Karlee Kraft stranded four HBU runners through the first three innings. Houston Baptist's best threat of the early going came in the bottom of the third inning, as Sierra Humphrey laced a one-out triple into the right centerfield gap. Kraft recovered to force Brockaway to foul out to Skains, then Rizzo made a nice snag on a Bushman liner to keep the Huskies scoreless.
HBU chased Kraft from the game in the bottom of the fourth inning. Janak drew a leadoff walk and scored one out later, when Amber Lotz doubled off Smith's glove in deep left centerfield. The Huskies would load the bases with two outs versus Kraft, who gave way to Wright.
Wright promptly gave up a single to Humphrey to give Houston Baptist its first lead. Wright then forced Brockaway to pop out to keep SLU down just 2-1.
In the fifth,
Madison Watson drew a walk, stole second and moved to third on an error with two outs. Ramon then drew a walk of her own and took off for second. While HBU had Ramon caught in a run down, Watson took off for home, but was gunned out at the plate to keep SLU down by a run.
McCoy reached on an error with one out in the top of the seventh inning and pinch runner
Anna Rodenberg advanced to second on a groundout by Alfano. Down to her last strike, Watson laced a single into right centerfield to tie the game.
Pryscilla Prince took Watson's place on the base paths and stole third as Smith drew a walk. Heidi Jaquez's throw down to third got away, allowing Prince to race home for the go-ahead run.
Ramon kept the inning going by beating out an infield single, then promptly stole her team-high 37
th base of the season to put a pair in scoring position. The Southland and SLU career record holder is now tied for 19
th with UCLA's Natasha Whatley (2000-03) on the Division I all-time leaderboard with 158 stolen bases.
Rizzo then laced a double inside the left field line to plate Smith and Ramon and give Southeastern a 5-2 advantage.
In the seventh, Bushman drummed a two-out double off the centerfield fence. Wright ended HBU's comeback hopes by forcing Janak to ground out to Ramon for the game's final out.
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.