LAKE CHARLES, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University softball team earned a spot in the Southland Conference Tournament championship game with an 8-0 shutout win over Lamar Friday afternoon at Joe Miller Field at Cowgirl Diamond.
SLU (47-13) will meet top-seeded McNeese (43-14) on championship Saturday at noon. If the Lady Lions are to hoist the trophy for the first time in school history, they'll have to beat the Cowgirls twice. Saturday's action will be televised on
Lamar, which beat Nicholls, 5-4, in Friday's first elimination game, finished the 2023 season with a 22-34 record.
Ellie DuBois (3-0) picked a fine time to earn the first complete-game shutout of her Lady Lion career. The program's career leader in saves held Lamar to three hits and struck out four in just her sixth start of the season.
The Southeastern offense touched up three Cardinal pitchers for 11 hits, scoring eight runs in the first three innings.
Maddie Watson,
Maddie Leal and
Cam Goodman each drove in a pair of runs, while
Ka'Lyn Watson and
Lexi Johnson added RBI of their own in the early offensive onslaught.
Southeastern took the lead in the bottom of the first inning against Lamar ace Aaliyah Ruiz (15-12).
Ka'Lyn Watson led off the frame with a single, then scored two outs later on an RBI double into the left field corner by Johnson to put SLU ahead, 1-0.
The Lady Lions added to their advantage in the bottom of the second inning. After singles by
Maddie Watson and Leal, Goodman cleared the bases with a triple to centerfield to extend the Southeastern cushion to 3-0.
SLU put up a crooked number again in the bottom of the third inning.
Maddie Watson singled home
Maria Detillier and
McKayla Ferguson to give the Lady Lions a 5-0 advantage. Later in the frame, Leal singled home two more runs, then later scored on a
Ka'Lyn Watson RBI single to put Southeastern up, 8-0. The Lady Lions sent nine to the plate in the five-run frame.
DuBois made it stand up with her best start of the season. The Shreveport, Louisiana native retired the first seven Cardinals and was never threatened on the way to helping SLU secure its second straight Southland Tournament championship game berth.
2023 Southland Conference Softball Championship (All games on ESPN+)
Tuesday, May 9
Game 1 | No. 5 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 3, No. 4 Lamar 2
Game 2 | No. 2 Southeastern 7, No. 7 HCU 1
Game 3 | No. 6 Northwestern State 8, No. 3 Nicholls 2 (8 Innings)
Wednesday, May 10
Game 4 | No. 1 McNeese 2, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 1
Game 5 | Southeastern 13, Northwestern State 1 (5 Innings)
Thursday, May 11
Game 6 | Nicholls, 2, HCU 1 (HCU eliminated)
Game 7 | Lamar 5, Northwestern State 4 (NSU eliminated)
Game 8 | Nicholls 1, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 0 (AMCC eliminated)
Game 9 | McNeese 6, Southeastern 2
Friday, May 12
Game 10 | Lamar 5, Nicholls 4 (Nicholls eliminated)
Game 11 | Southeastern 8, Lamar 0 (5 Innings) (Lamar eliminated)
Saturday, May 13
Game 12 | McNeese vs. Southeastern | Noon
Game 13 | McNeese vs. Southeastern (Only necessary if Southeastern 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.
