YOUNGSVILLE, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University softball team split a pair of nonconference contests on the opening day of the Mardi Gras Mambo Friday evening at the Youngsville Sports Complex.
Southeastern (7-3) opened the day with a 3-0 shutout victory over Portland State (6-5). In the nightcap, the Lady Lions dropped a 5-0 decision to No. 2 Alabama (12-0).
In the opener,
Heather Zumo (4-0) struck out a career-high 11 batters in six shutout innings of work for SLU.
Ellie DuBois tossed a scoreless seventh inning to earn her first save of the season.
Maddie Watson drove in a run in the win over the Vikings.
Madisen Blackford,
Lexi Johnson and
Bailey Krolczyk all scored runs for Southeastern.
Watson,
Aeriyl Mass and
Audrey Greely were the lone Lady Lions to collect hits off Alabama ace and reigning national Pitcher of the Year Montana Fouts (4-0) in the loss to the Crimson Tide. MC Comeaux (3-2) held Alabama scoreless for the first four innings before the Crimson Tide pulled away late.
Southeastern will return to action on Saturday, facing Lipscomb at 3 p.m. and Eastern Illinois at 5 p.m. Live stats for the games will be available at
www.LionSports.net/sidearmstats/softball.
Game One – Southeastern 3, Portland State 0
Zumo and Portland State ace Olivia Grey (3-1), the reigning Big Sky Conference Tournament MVP, were both dominant in the circle, combining for 22 strikeouts.
Southeastern finally got to Grey in the bottom of the fourth inning. Blackford led off the inning with a double to left center, then back-to-back Viking errors allowed two runs to score. Watson singled home Krolczyk to give Southeastern a 3-0 cushion.
Zumo stranded a pair of runners in both the fifth and sixth innings with inning-ending strikeouts. DuBois walked a pair in the top of the seventh to bring the tying run to the plate. But the program's single-season record holder for saves struck out Julia Perkins and forced Maddie Thompson to ground out to secure the victory.
Game Two – No. 2 Alabama 5, Southeastern 0
Comeaux and Fouts held the respective lineups in check through the first four innings. Comeaux deftly pitched out of jams, stranding five Alabama runners over the first four scoreless frames.
Alabama finally got to Comeaux in the top of the fifth inning. A two-run single by Kaylee Tow broke the scoreless tie.
Southeastern mounted its first threat of the night in its half of the fifth. Singles by Watson and Greely put a pair of runners on, but Fouts recovered to strike out
Cam Goodman to maintain the 2-0 lead.
SLU's comeback hopes were dashed in the top of the sixth inning. Megan Bloodworth led off the inning with a home run to straight away center, then Kat Grill and KJ Haney each had RBI doubles to stretch the Alabama advantage to 5-0.
After Lady Lion reliever
Alyssa Romano struck out two in a scoreless seventh, SLU took one last run at Fouts in the bottom of the frame.
Sarah Diaz and
Sadie Hewitt both drew walks, but were stranded as Fouts ended the game with her 13
th strikeout of the night, fanning Greely to close out the shutout.
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.
