HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana
Briahna Bennett's RBI double in the bottom of the fifth inning backed up a gem by junior
Alley McDonald, as SLU took a 1-0 victory over Lamar in the rubber game of its Southland Conference softball series on Super Lion Saturday afternoon at North Oak Park.
Southeastern (24-17, 12-6 Southland) broke a tie with the visiting Cardinals (20-24, 11-7 Southland) with Saturday's win. The Lady Lions need two wins, a win and a Houston Baptist loss, or two HBU losses to clinch a berth in next month's Southland Conference Tournament.
McDonald (10-5) continued her dominance in Southland Conference play, tossing a complete-game, four-hit shutout. The Whitehouse, Tennessee native is now 8-1 with a 0.91 earned run average in league games this season.
SLU only managed five hits in the pitcher's duel between McDonald and LU's Aaliyah Ruiz (3-4). Bennett,
Mima Doucet,
Rebecca Skains,
Ella Manzer and
Ali McCoy each collected hits for Southeastern. Bennett came up with a big pinch hit for the second straight day, as she broke open the game with a grand slam in Friday's 10-2 series-opening victory.
"This was a really good series win for us this weekend," Southeastern head coach
Rick Fremin said. "Alley's was excellent for us in the circle and we played very good defense behind her today.
Ali McCoy did an excellent job stepping up and taking an extra base on her double, then Briahna came up with the big hit off the bench for the second straight game. Any time we can win a 1-0 game with a series on the line, it shows the toughness our team has."
Southeastern threatened in the bottom of the second inning.
Ella Manzer led off the inning with a single and was replaced on the base paths by
Cameron Beal. With two outs,
Caroline Manzer hit a high pop up that LU third baseman Taylor Murphy misplayed. Beal tried to score all the way from first on the error, but was thrown out at home to keep the game scoreless.
The Lady Lions looked to break through again in the bottom of the third inning. With two outs, Doucet singled and promptly stole second and third. However, Murphy snagged a liner off the bat of
Jaquelyn Ramon to keep SLU off the board.
Lamar mounted its first scoring threat in the top of the fifth inning, as Maddy Myers and Shannon Klaus reached on consecutive errors. However, Doucet made a nice play on a Savana Guidry grounder to get SLU out of the inning.
Southeastern took advantage in its half of the fifth, as McCoy legged out a double to right centerfield to lead off the inning, then scored when Bennett came off the bench and doubled off the left field fence to give SLU a 1-0 advantage.
McDonald gave up a leadoff double to Shaina Amir in the top of the sixth inning, but quickly erased her by forcing Jade Lewis to ground into a double play. The SLU ace retired the last four Cardinals she faced to secure the key Southland victory.
Southeastern will continue its seven-game home stand next Tuesday, hosting Jackson State at 5 p.m. at North Oak Park. The Southeastern Channel will broadcast the contest on the Southland Digital Network at
www.Southland.org/live and via the Southland apps available for iPhone, Android, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Roku.
Tuesday's game will also feature a Cane's Challenge. If the Lady Lions score three or more runs, fans can take their game ticket or student coupon to their participating Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers to receive a free combo with the purchase of another of equal or greater value.
LU – 000 000 0 – 0 4 1 (20-24, 11-7 SLC)
SLU – 000 010 x – 1 5 2 (24-17, 12-6 SLC)
Aaliyah Ruiz, Erin Kyle (5) and Shaina Amir.
Alley McDonald and
Ella Manzer. W – McDonald (10-5). L – Ruiz (3-4). 2B – LU: Shaina Amir (6); SLU:
Ali McCoy (8),
Briahna Bennett (2). T – 1:45. A – 249.
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.
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.
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.
