HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University softball team opened the home portion of its Southland Conference schedule with a doubleheader sweep of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Friday afternoon at North Oak Park.
Southeastern (25-7, 4-1 SLC) extended its current win streak to three games. The Islanders fell to 11-13 overall and 1-4 in league play.
In the opener, SLU touched up Islander ace Primrose Aholelei (9-8) for 11 hits in a 5-2 victory.
Colleen Kulivan led the Lions with a 3-for-3 showing, while
Bailey Krolczyk was 2-for-3 with two RBI.
Madison Rayner,
Audrey Greely and
Blaire Bizette also drove in runs in the win.
KK Ladner (8-1) shook off a two-run first inning to scatter three hits and strike out 14 in six innings of work to earn the win.
Ellie DuBois tossed a scoreless seventh to earn her school-record ninth save of her Lady Lion career.
Mary-Cathryn (MC) Comeaux (4-2) tossed five no-hit innings to earn the win in Southeastern's 7-3 victory in the nightcap.
Lexi Johnson hit her sixth home run of the season to lead the Lady Lions at the plate, while Krolczyk added an RBI triple.
"Our two starters had great days in the circle for us," Southeastern head coach
Rick Fremin said. "MC has established herself as one of our three weekend starters and has had two straight great outings in conference play. KK was stellar in game one with another double-digit strikeout performance.
"We faced an excellent pitcher in the opening game," Fremin added. "We were able to grind out at-bats and do what we needed to take the series."
Saturday's series finale will remain at noon. The game will be televised on ESPN+ and live stats will be available at
www.LionSports.net/sidearmstats/softball.
Game One – Southeastern 5, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 2
The Islanders got to Ladner in the top of the first. After an one-out single by Paolina Baez, Kimane Rogron lined a 3-2 pitch just inside the left field foul pole to give the visitors a 2-0 cushion.
Aholelei held the Lady Lions at bay until SLU broke through in the fourth. A single by
Maria Detillier was followed up by Rayner getting hit by a pitch. After Johnson bunted the pair into scoring position, Krolczyk hit a sharp single through the left side to score both and tie the game at 2-2.
Southeastern took the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth inning. Kulivan beat out an infield single, moved to second on a pinch-hit base knock by
Jillian Gutierrez and scored on a RBI single by Rayner to put SLU up, 3-2.
Ladner struck out six straight Islanders before TAMU-CC threatened in the sixth inning. Rogron singled, then Sydney Hoyt drew a walk to put a pair of runners on with one out. Ladner bounced back, retiring Taniece Tyson and Alina Jasso to close out the inning.
Southeastern added to its lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. Krolczyk led off the inning with a single and scored one out later when Greely laced a triple into the right centerfield gap. Greely would come home to score on a Bizette infield single to give the Lady Lions a 5-2 advantage.
A walk and an error allowed the Islanders to bring the tying run to the plate in the top of the seventh, but DuBois settled down and retired Baez for the game's final out. The Shreveport, Louisiana native's save broke the tie with former Lady Lion Carla Newsom (1993-96) atop the program's career saves leaderboard.
Game Two – Southeastern 7, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 3
Cam Goodman drew a leadoff walk versus Islander starter Ariella Saenz (0-1), advanced to second on a sac bunt by Detillier and scored on a throwing error by Islander catcher Gabriella Torres. One-out later, Johnson drummed a solo home run well over the left field fence to give SLU a 2-0 lead after an inning of play
In the bottom of the second, a pair of errors allowed
Ka'Lyn Watson and
Audrey Greely to score unearned runs. Later in the frame, Kulivan stole home to put SLU up, 5-0.
Johnson reached on an error to lead off the third, then scored when Krolczyk tripled to right centerfield. Krolczyk would later score on another Islander error to give Southeastern a 7-0 lead before the game was delayed for 39 minutes due to a rain delay.
The long layoff didn't affect Comeaux. The Port Allen, Louisiana native didn't allow a hit, struck out two and walked three in five innings of work. The Islanders scratched out three runs off SLU reliever
Alyssa Romano, but could get no closer.
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.
