HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University softball team opened Southland Conference Tournament play with a 10-2 run-rule victory over Nicholls Tuesday evening at North Oak Park.
With the win, SLU (38-14) tied a single-season school record for victories and extended its home win streak to 15 games. The Lady Lions will face HBU (17-27) Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.
SLU finished with 10 hits on the day and stole nine bases.
Madisen Blackford led Southeastern with a pair of hits and three steals.
Maddie Watson paced SLU with three RBI, while
Aeriyl Mass and
Lindsey Rizzo led the Lady Lions with two runs apiece.
Southeastern ace
Heather Zumo (19-4) allowed two hits and struck out four in four innings of work to earn the win in the circle.
After a scoreless first, SLU took the lead in the bottom of the second inning versus Nicholls starter Paige Lehman (5-16). Blackford singled and scored on a two-out Nicholls error.
Audrey Greely, who reached on the error, stole second and scored on an RBI single by
Sarah Diaz to stake Southeastern to a 2-0 lead.
Defensive miscommunication allowed the Colonels to cut the lead in half in the top of the third, but Nicholls would get no closer. RBI by Watson and Blackford extended the lead to 4-1 after three innings of play.
Southeastern broke the game open in the fourth inning, sending 10 to the plate in a five-run frame. Mass stole home for the inning's first run, then Watson plated two with a triple into the right field corner. Later in the inning,
Blaire Bizette drilled a two-run double to give SLU a 9-1 cushion.
Nicholls managed to scratch across a run in the top of the fifth inning to extend the game briefly. In the Southeastern half of the fifth, Mass walked, stole second, advanced to third on an error and scored on a sacrifice fly by Rizzo to enforce the mercy rule.
All of the tournament games will be televised on ESPN+.
2022 Southland Conference Softball Tournament | May 10-13 | North Oak Park | Hammond, La. (All games on ESPN+)
Tuesday, May 10
Game 1 – No. 4 Northwestern State 4, No. 5 UIW 3
Game 2 – No. 6 HBU 5, No. 3 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 4 (8 Innings)
Game 3 – No. 2 Southeastern 10, No. 7 Nicholls 2 (5 Innings)
Wednesday, May 11
Game 4 – No. 1 McNeese vs. Northwestern State, 11 a.m.
Game 5 – HBU vs. Southeastern, 1:30 p.m.
Game 6 – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi vs. Nicholls, 4 p.m. (Elimination Game)
Game 7 – UIW vs. Game 5 Loser, 6:30 p.m. (Elimination Game)
Thursday, May 12
Game 8 – Game 4 Loser vs. Game 6 Winner, 11 a.m.
Game 9 – Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner, 1:30 p.m.
Game 10 – Game 8 Winner vs. Game 7 Winner, 4 p.m.
Game 11 – Game 10 Winner vs. Game 9 Loser, 6:30 p.m.
Friday, May 13
Game 12 – Game 9 Winner vs. Game 11 Winner, 12 p.m.
Game 13 – Necessary if Game 11 Winner wins Game 12, 30 minutes after Game 12
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.
