HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University softball team dropped a 2-1 decision to Southland Conference leader McNeese Wednesday afternoon at North Oak Park.
Southeastern (41-12, 16-5 SLC) could not complete the series sweep after clinching its seventh consecutive Southland Conference series victory with a doubleheader sweep of the Cowgirls (35-14, 15-3 SLC) Tuesday.
Lexi Johnson hit her team-high ninth home run of the season in the loss for the Lady Lions.
Audrey Greely and
Maddie Watson were the only other SLU players to record hits against McNeese starter Ashley Vallejo (14-8).
MC Comeaux (8-4) gave up the only two Cowgirl runs and took the loss in the circle.
Cera Blanchard and
Ellie DuBois combined to hold McNeese to two hits in 4.1 innings of shutout relief.
Southeastern mounted the game's first threat in the bottom of the second inning, as
Bailey Krolczyk walked,
Maddie Watson singled and Vallejo hit Greely to load the bases with one out. Vallejo bounced back to retire
Ka'Lyn Watson and
Colleen Kulivan to keep SLU scoreless.
McNeese managed all the offense it would need in the top of the third inning. A two-out, two-run home run by Crislyne Moreno put the Cowgirls up, 2-0.
The Lady Lions finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning. Johnson hit a solo shot over the centerfield fence to cut the Cowgirl advantage to 2-1.
In the bottom of the seventh inning,
Cam Goodman drew a two-out walk to put the tying run aboard, but McNeese reliever Shaelyn Sanders retired
Maria Detillier to record her first save of the season.
Southeastern will close out the regular season with a three-game Southland series May 5-6 at Northwestern State. The series will be televised on ESPN+. The Lady Lions will be no lower than the No. 2 seed in the Southland Conference Tournament, which is scheduled for May 9-12 in Lake Charles.
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.
