NATCHITOCHES, La. – McNeese edged Southeastern Louisiana, 1-0, to end the Lady Lion team's run in the Southland Conference Tournament Wednesday afternoon at Lady Demon Diamond.
The Lady Lions closed the season with a 34-22 record. McNeese (29-29) will play again Thursday at 1:30 p.m.
Jaquelyn Ramon was the lone Lady Lion to record a hit against Cowgirl starter Caroline Settle (8-8).
Sophie Hannabas (7-7) was nearly as good for the Lady Lions, allowing one run in five innings of work.
McNeese mounted the game's first threat, as Demi Boudreaux and Cori McCrary opened the second inning with consecutive singles. Hannabas retired the lead runner on a Toni Perrin attempted sacrifice bunt, then
Ella Manzer gunned McCrary trying to steal third. Hannabas then forced Sara Geier to hit a comebacker to the circle to get out of the jam unscathed.
The Cowgirls took the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. An RBI single by Cori McCrary broke a scoreless tie. Hannabas forced Perrin to hit into an inning-ending double play to keep the deficit at 1-0.
With two outs in the sixth, Ramon drew a two-out walk and stole her single-season Southland record 63
rd base of the season. However, Settle forced
Lindsey Rizzo to hit a line shot right at McCrary to maintain the 1-0 Cowgirl lead.
McNeese loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth inning with one out and were poised to add some insurance runs. However,
Karlee Kraft retired McCrary and Perrin to give SLU a chance heading into its final at-bat.
In the last chance for the Lady Lions,
Rebecca Skains reached and advanced to second on an error by Alexandria Saldivar.
Hannah Blackford sacrificed pinch runner
Pryscilla Prince to third with one out, but Settle retired
Mima Doucet and
Ali McCoy.
SLU finished the season with 227 stolen bases – the 10
th highest single-season total in Division I history – and its 34 wins were the second-most in history, behind last season's 38 victories.
SLU says goodbye to the senior class of Skains, Ramon and
Caitlyn VanHemelryck. Skains set a single-season school record with 20 doubles as a senior and led SLU with 62 hits and 48 RBI.
Ramon will go down as one of the best base stealers in Division I history. Her 63 steals were the 10
th-highest single-season total ever, while her 184 career steals put her ninth on the Division I all-time leaderboard. The Channelview, Texas native scored a single-season school record 51 runs and finished as the school's career leader with 151 runs scored as a Lady Lion.
2019 Southland Conference Tournament – May 7-10, 2019 – Natchitoches, La.
Tuesday, May 7 (Southland Digital Network)
Game 1 – No. 5 Southeastern Louisiana 7, No. 8 Central Arkansas 6 (8 Innings) (UCA eliminated)
Game 2 – No. 6 Northwestern State 4, No. 7 Lamar 0 (LU eliminated)
Game 3 – Southeastern Louisiana 2, No. 4 Stephen F. Austin 0 (9 Innings)
Game 4 – Northwestern State 4, No. 3 McNeese 3
Wednesday, May 8 (Southland Digital Network)
Game 5 – No. 1 Sam Houston State 7, Southeastern Louisiana 0
Game 6 – No. 2 Nicholls 9, Northwestern State 0 (5 Innings)
Game 7 – McNeese 1, Southeastern Louisiana 0
Game 8 – Stephen F. Austin vs. Northwestern State, 4:30 p.m.
Thursday, May 9 (Southland Digital Network)
Game 9 – Sam Houston State vs. Nicholls, 11 a.m.
Game 10 – Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Winner, 1:30 p.m.
Game 11 – Game 9 Loser vs. Game 10 Winner, 4 p.m.
Friday, May 10
Game 12 – Game 9 Winner vs. Game 11 Winner, 12 p.m. (ESPNU)
Game 13 – Rematch if Game 11 Winner also wins Game 12, TBA (ESPN3)
SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT TICKETS
Tickets are on sale for the Southland Conference Softball Tournament, which will be played May 7-10 at Northwestern State's Lady Demon Diamond. Available options include an all-tournament pass ($20 for adults, $10 kids) and single-game tickets ($10 adults, $5 kids). With valid ID, students from Southland institutions will receive free admission. Tickets can be purchased at
nsudemons.com. Click "packages" for all-tournament passes. In addition, fans can call the ticket office at
318-357-4268 or buy tickets at the gate via cash or card.
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.
