YOUNGSVILLE, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University softball team improved to 8-0 in 2023 with a pair of victories on day two of the Mardi Gras Mambo Saturday afternoon at the Youngsville Sports Complex.
The eight wins to start the season is the longest unbeaten streak to open a campaign in program history, besting the previous best start of 6-0 in 2018.
Southeastern opened the day with a nine-inning, 3-2 victory over Gardner-Webb (2-4). In the bottom of the ninth,
Maria Detillier hit a sacrifice fly to score pinch runner
McKayla Ferguson for the walk-off victory.
KK Ladner had her second double-digit strikeout performance in as many starts, fanning a career-high 15 Bulldogs and allowing six hits in 8.0 innings of work.
Cera Blanchard (4-0) earned the win with a scoreless ninth.
The SLU offense came to life in the second game, finishing with 13 hits in a 10-2 victory over St. Thomas.
Ka'Lyn Watson finished 3-for-3, a home run short of the cycle and drove in two runs.
Bailey Krolczyk,
Cam Goodman,
Lexi Johnson and
Maddie Leal added two hits apiece.
Lady Lion pitchers
Chyanne Ellett,
Mary-Cathryn (MC) Comeaux (2-0),
Alyssa Romano,
Ellie DuBois and
Cera Blanchard combined to hold St. Thomas to four hits.
Southeastern will look to continue its undefeated run Sunday, when it faces Florida A&M at 11 a.m. on the final day of the Mardi Gras Mambo. Live stats will be accessible at
www.LionSports.net/sidearmstats/softball.
Game One – Southeastern 3, Gardner-Webb 2 (9 Innings)
The Bulldogs jumped on top in their half of the first. A two-run home run by Andrea Lyon gave Gardner-Webb a 2-0 early advantage.
SLU cut into the lead in the bottom of the third inning. Detillier singled and scored one batter later on an RBI single by Johnson to pull within, 2-1.
The Lady Lions tied it up in the bottom of the fourth.
Audrey Greely led off the inning with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Leal, stole third and scored on a Goodman RBI groundout to knot the score at 2-2.
Gardner-Webb loaded the bases with one out in the seventh and looked poised to break the tie. Ladner would not be broken, however, striking out Ella Christopher and Andrea Lyon to end the frame.
After SLU was sat down in order in the bottom of the seventh, Lyon was placed on second to start the eighth. That's where she would stay, as Ladner sandwiched a pair of strikeouts around a pop out to keep the game tied.
Southeastern would strand two of its own in its half of the eighth inning. In the ninth, the Bulldogs would have runners on second and third and no outs, but Blanchard would retire Kasey Fava on a ground out, then strike out Taylor Dreher and Christopher to keep the score deadlocked.
SLU finally scored off Lyon (1-2) in the bottom of the ninth. Ferguson was placed on second to open the frame and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by
Colleen Kulivan. After a
Jillian Gutierrez walk, Detillier hit an 0-1 pitch to deep left with plenty of distance for Ferguson to cruise home with the winning run.
Game Two – Southeastern 10, St. Thomas 2 (6 Innings)
Southeastern broke through with a four-run second inning to take the lead for good. Greely and Leal started the scoring with back-to-back singles, then scored when
Ka'Lyn Watson cleared the bases with a two-run single to put SLU up, 4-0.
St. Thomas answered right back against Comeaux in the top of the third inning. Maddie Grad tripled home the inning's first run and scored on an RBI single by Kaitlyn Raymond to cut the lead to 4-2.
Southeastern got a run back in the fourth when
Ka'Lyn Watson tripled and scored. The Lady Lions would end it with a big inning in the sixth inning. Goodman singled home the inning's first run, the scored on a two-run triple by Rayner. Johnson followed with a triple of her own to plate Rayner, then scored the run that would enforce the mercy rule on a wild pitch by UST reliever Ella Cook.
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.
