MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Southeastern Louisiana softball team earned a pair of victories on the second day of the Black and Gold III Tournament on Saturday at the Barbara Williams Softball Complex on the Alabama State campus.
Southeastern (11-9) opened the day with a 3-1 victory over Purdue Fort Wayne (4-6). In the nightcap, the Lady Lions defeated host ASU (8-7), 8-3. It was a strong bounce-bank performance for SLU, who opened the tournament with a 5-0 loss to Eastern Kentucky on Friday.
In the win over PFW,
Karlee Kraft (3-0) tossed a complete-game one-hitter to lead the Lady Lions to victory.
Rebecca Skains led SLU at the plate with a home run and two RBI.
Southeastern stole a season-high 12 bases in the win over Alabama State.
Jaquelyn Ramon was 4-for-4 with four runs scored and four stolen bases to lead SLU. With 152 career stolen bases, the Southland and SLU career leader moved past Taylor Gadbois (Missouri, 2013-16, 149 SB) and Dorsey Steamer (UL Lafayette, 1989-92, 149 SB) into 24
th place on the Division I all-time leaderboard.
Alley McDonald (2-3) threw five scoreless innings of relief to earn the win for the Lady Lions. Skains added two more RBI in the win over the host Lady Hornets.
"We made some adjustments today and had some success," Southeastern head coach
Rick Fremin said. "Karlee was lights out for us in the circle and we were really proud of her effort. Rebecca came up big for us at the plate (against PFW).
"We were able to get our short game going against the Alabama State pitcher, who was the hardest thrower we've faced this season," Fremin said. "We had a tough day against a very good Eastern Kentucky pitching staff on Friday and I'm pleased with how we responded today."
Southeastern closes out the tournament on Sunday with a 12 p.m. contest versus Western Illinois.
Game One – Southeastern Louisiana 3, Purdue Fort Wayne 1
Southeastern jumped out to a 1-0 lead versus PFW starter Lauren McConnell (3-2) in the top of the first inning. Skains and
Ella Manzer drew consecutive two-out walks, then
Mima Doucet singled up the middle to plate Skains and give the Lady Lions the early advantage.
The Lady Lions padded their lead in the third inning. After a Rizzo walk, Skains drilled her first home run of 2019 over the right field fence to give SLU a 3-0 advantage.
Kraft retired the first 15 Mastodon batters she faced, before PFW's Brooke Imel led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a single to break up the perfect game bid. Imel would later score on an error to cut the lead to 3-1. The tying run came to the plate with two outs, but Kraft struck out Lacey Wilzbacher to maintain the two-run lead.
In the bottom of the seventh, Kraft walked Alise Hale with two outs. But the Ponchatoula, Louisiana native forced Sydney Windlan to ground out to Ramon to secure her first complete-game victory as a Lady Lion.
Game Two – Southeastern Louisiana 8, Alabama State 3
The Lady Lions broke out to an early lead in the top of the first inning. Ramon beat out an infield single, stole second and scored on an RBI single by Manzer. However, in the bottom of the frame, the Lady Hornets scored three runs to chase Southeastern starter
Sophie Hannabas from the game and take a 3-1 lead.
The advantage was short-lived, as SLU plated three runs in the top of the second inning.
Pryscilla Prince walked and later scored on a passed ball. Ramon singled home
Madisen Blackford for the tying run, then later scored on a ASU error to give SLU a 4-3 cushion.
The Lady Lions added an insurance run in the top of the fourth inning. Ramon led off the frame with a single, stole second and scored on Skains' team-high ninth double of the season to put SLU on top, 5-3.
After giving up a leadoff single in the bottom of the second, McDonald retired 10 in a row before Alabama State loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth inning with two outs. McDonald recovered to force Teah Steel to pop out to leave the bags packed and defend SLU's two-run advantage.
The Lady Lions broke open the game in the top of the sixth. Skains and Doucet each drove in runs, then Doucet scored on an error to give Southeastern an 8-3 lead.
Alabama State put a pair on in each of the final two innings, but
Tanner Wright pitched out of the jams to ice the 8-3 victory.
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.
