HAMMOND, La. – Central Arkansas hit a pair of home runs in the top of the sixth inning on the way to rallying for a 5-3 victory over Southeastern Louisiana in Southland Conference softball action Saturday afternoon at North Oak Park.
 
The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for Southeastern (28-18, 14-7 Southland), which clinched a spot in the Southland Conference Tournament with Friday's doubleheader sweep. Central Arkansas improved to 22-25 overall and 8-13 in league action.
 
Saturday was also Senior Day at North Oak Park. The Lady Lion senior trio of Caitlyn VanHemelryck, Rebecca Skains and Jaquelyn Ramon, as well as student assistant Will Hess, were honored prior to Saturday's series finale.
 
Ella Manzer led SLU with three hits, while Lindsey Rizzo and Mima Doucet each had two hits apiece. Southeastern stole five bases on the day to run its Division I-leading team total to 204.
 
The Lady Lions are the 18^th team in the history of Division I to top 200 stolen bases in a season. Southeastern has the 16^th-highest total on the all-time leaderboard and is the first team since 2002 to top 200 stolen bases.
 
UCA took the lead in the top of the second inning against SLU starter Alley McDonald (11-6). Cylla Hill led off the inning with a double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Kaylyn Shepherd. Later in the inning, Reagan Sperling singled home Tylar Vernon to stake the Bears to a 2-0 advantage.
 
Southeastern answered back in the bottom of the second. Doucet singled and scored when Madisen Blackford reached on an error. Later in the inning, a sacrifice fly by Pryscilla Prince knotted the score at 2-2.
 
The Lady Lions took the lead in the bottom of the third inning. Rizzo beat out an infield single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Skains and scored on an RBI single up the middle by Caroline Manzer.
 
McDonald and UCA starter Rachel Haberman (4-4) matched zeroes until the Bears took the lead for good in the top of the sixth inning. Hill led off the frame with a game-tying solo home run. Two batters later, Shepherd bombed a two-run home run over the right centerfield fence to give Central Arkansas a 5-3 lead.
 
Haberman made the lead stand up, stranding three Lady Lions over the final two innings to avoid the series sweep.
 
This weekend's series marked the end of an eight-game home stand for the Lady Lions. On Tuesday, SLU closes out non-conference play with a 3 p.m. contest at Southern.
 
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.