HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana softball team opened its Southland Conference series with Abilene Christian with a doubleheader split Friday evening at North Oak Park.
 
Southeastern (16-13, 6-2 Southland) opened the day with a 6-2 victory over ACU (7-19, 3-5 Southland). The Wildcats bounced back with a 5-4 victory in the nightcap.
 
In the opener, Aeriyl Mass, Madison Watson, Kelci Bodin and Audrey Greely led the Lady Lions with two hits each. Sophie Hannabas (1-3), Heather Zumo and Ellie DuBois combined to hold Abilene Christian to five hits.
 
ACU held off a late Lady Lion rally to salvage the split. Cameron Goodman and Madisen Blackford were both 2-for-3 with an RBI in the loss for SLU.
 
The rubber game of the series is set for Saturday with first pitch moved up to 11 a.m. The series finale will be televised on ESPN+ and live stats will be accessible at www.LionSports.net/sidearmstats/softball.
 
Game One – Southeastern Louisiana 6, Abilene Christian 2
An RBI double by Samantha Bradley gave ACU a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Mass quickly tied it up, leading off the bottom of the first versus Bradley (3-10) with a home run just inside the right field foul pole.
 
SLU took its first lead in the bottom of the second inning. Bodin beat out a bunt single and later scored on a throwing error by Val Rudd to give the Lady Lions a 2-1 advantage.
 
Abilene Christian knotted the score in the top of the third inning. The Wildcats loaded the bases with one out, then Shaylee Alani drew a walk to force in the tying run. However, Hannabas retired Kayla Keeling and Katelyn Belch to keep the score deadlocked.
 
Southeastern took the lead right back in the bottom of the frame. Mass led off the inning with a bunt single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Lindsey Rizzo and scored on an RBI single by Blackford to allow SLU to regain a 3-2 advantage.
 
Ella Manzer picked off Donelle Johnson at third to get Hannabas out of a jam in the fourth. From there, Zumo and DuBois combined for three innings of no-hit relief to help Southeastern maintain the lead.
 
The Lady Lions closed out the scoring in the sixth inning. A two-run double by Greely and an RBI single by Rizzo provided the final 6-2 margin.
 
Game Two – Abilene Christian 5, Southeastern Louisiana 4
Southeastern broke through versus ACU starter Riley White (4-7) in the bottom of the first inning. Mass singled, stole second and scored on an Abilene Christian error to give the Lady Lions a 1-0 cushion.
 
Zumo sat down the first six Wildcats she faced before ACU tied it up in the top of the third inning. Belch singled to lead off the inning, stole second, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Caroline Adair and scored when Johnson beat out an infield single. Rudd and Calie Burris drew consecutive walks to load the bases, but Zumo struck out Bradley to keep the bases loaded and the game tied.
 
SLU quickly retook the lead in the bottom of the third inning. Rizzo singled and scored on an RBI single by Blackford to put the Lady Lions back on top, 2-1.
 
ACU answered in the top of the fifth inning. Rudd put the Wildcats on top with a towering two-run home run over the left field fence to give Abilene Christian a 3-2 lead.
 
SLU answered right back in the bottom of the frame. Goodman singled to lead off the inning and stole home when Rizzo intentionally got caught in a run down. The heads up base running knotted the score at 3-3.
 
The game wouldn't be tied for long. Johnson singled home the go-ahead run and came all the way around to score on a three-base error by Blackford to give the Wildcats a 5-3 lead.
 
An RBI single by Goodman cut the lead in half in the bottom of the sixth inning. In the seventh, Rizzo drew a walk to lead off the inning. However, White retired Blackford, Manzer and Kylie Chauvin to close out the win.
 
TICKETS
For ticket information, please contact the Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office at (985) 549-5466 or visit www.LionSports.net/tickets. Southeastern is implementing mobile ticketing as the primary source for securing tickets for the 2020-21 season. All tickets will be available via e-mail and text message in a PDF format for fans to download on their phone or print at home. Tickets can also be downloaded to Apple Wallet.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Softball, follow @LionUpSoftball 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 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.