NATCHITOCHES, La. – Northwestern State used a pair of big innings and strong pitching performances to earn a doubleheader sweep of Southeastern Louisiana in Southland Conference softball action Friday evening at Lady Demon Diamond.
Southeastern (19-13, 7-4 Southland) had its six-game winning streak snapped and dropped its first league series of 2019. Northwestern State (17-16, 8-3 Southland) vaulted the Lady Lions in the standings and won the inaugural Cypress Trophy.
In the opener, Northwestern State plated five runs in the second inning on the way to a 6-1 victory.
Karlee Kraft provided all of SLU's offense in the opener, hitting a solo home run in the top of the fifth inning.
In the nightcap, NSU took advantage of five SLU errors to complete the series sweep with another 6-1 win.
Ali McCoy had the Lady Lions' lone RBI, while
Alley McDonald (6-4) had her five-game winning streak snapped, giving up just one earned run in a complete-game effort.
The series wraps with a noon contest on Saturday. Live video and stats, provided by the hosts, will be accessible on the softball schedule page at
www.LionSports.net.
Game 1 – Northwestern State 6, Southeastern Louisiana 1
Northwestern State took a big lead in the bottom of the second inning. Elise Vincent drew a one-out bases loaded walk from
Briahna Bennett (2-3) to force in the game's first run, then Cayla Jones followed with a grand slam to put NSU ahead, 5-0.
E.C. Delafield (4-1) held SLU without a hit until the top of the fifth inning. Kraft led off the frame with her first collegiate home run to put Southeastern on the board. NSU got the run back thanks to a
Jaquelyn Ramon error in the bottom of the frame to take a 6-1 advantage.
Rebecca Skains and
Ella Manzer were stranded after back-to-back two-out singles in the sixth inning, then Delafield threw a perfect seventh to close out the victory.
Game 2 – Northwestern State 6, Southeastern Louisiana 1
Southeastern took an early lead in the top of the second inning.
Mima Doucet was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on an RBI single up the middle by McCoy to put SLU up, 1-0.
Northwestern State took the lead in the bottom of the third. With runners on second and third and one out, Kaitlyn St. Clair lifted a sacrifice fly deep enough to right centerfield to score the tying run. Manzer tried to throw out the runner at third, but her throw skipped past Doucet, allowing the Lady Demons to take a 2-1 lead.
The first two Lady Demon batters reached in the bottom of the fifth inning on SLU errors, then Jones ripped a double into the right centerfield gap. Jones later scored on a sacrifice fly by St. Clair to pad the NSU lead to 5-1.
NSU scored another unearned run in the bottom of the sixth inning to extend their lead to 6-1. Samantha Guile (5-7) threw a perfect seventh to secure the sweep for the Lady Demons.
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.
