NATCHITOCHES, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University softball team completed a Southland Conference series sweep with a 7-1 road victory over Northwestern State in the regular season finale for both teams Saturday morning at Lady Demon Diamond.
SLU (44-12, 19-5 SLC) added to its single-season school record victory tally with its school-record 19
th conference win Saturday. Northwestern State fell to 24-25 overall and 10-14 in Southland play.
Lexi Johnson led an 11-hit SLU attack, finishing 3-for-4.
Bailey Krolczyk hit a home run and tied the single-season school record for extra-base hits, as she,
Audrey Greely and
Ka'Lyn Watson added two hits each and all drove in runs.
SLU pitchers
Ellie DuBois (2-0) and MC Comeaux combined to hold the host Lady Demons to three hits. DuBois earned her second win of the series, while Comeaux recorded her team-high fourth save of the season.
Northwestern State jumped on top in the bottom of the first inning. An RBI single by Makenzie Chaffin staked the Lady Demons to a 1-0 advantage.
Southeastern evened it up in its half of the second. Greely beat out a bunt single, then scored when
Ka'Lyn Watson laced a double into the right centerfield gap to knot the score at 1-1.
SLU took the lead in the top of the fourth inning. Johnson led off the frame with a single and was replaced on the base paths by
McKayla Ferguson. Ferguson moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by
Maddie Watson and an NSU error, then scored on a sacrifice fly by
Madison Rayner to give the Lady Lions a 2-1 lead.
The Lady Lions padded their cushion in the top of the fifth inning. Krolczyk followed a two-out single by
Maria Detillier with a mammoth home run – her league-high 10
th – to extend the Lady Lion lead to 4-1.
Krolczyk is the sixth Lady Lion to hit double-digit home runs in a season, joining Mahalia Gibson, Amber Sather, Rebecca De la Garza, Karin Smith and Dee Rancher. With 16 doubles and a triple this season, the Corpus Christi, Texas native has tied Rancher's 1999 output for extra-base hits in a season.
The two-out rally continued, as Johnson and
Maddie Watson followed with singles, then scored on a two-run single by Greely to give SLU a 6-1 lead. Southeastern extended its advantage in the top of the sixth inning, as
Ka'Lyn Watson led off the inning with an infield single, then scored thanks to a Lady Demon error to make it a 7-1 Lady Lion advantage.
Comeaux and DuBois made the lead hold up, as the Lady Lion duo held NSU scoreless over the final six innings to help Southeastern complete the Cypress Trophy series sweep.
Southeastern will head into the postseason with momentum, as the Lady Lions will be the No. 2 seed in next week's Southland Conference Tournament in Lake Charles and will open tournament play versus the yet to be determined No. 7 seed Tuesday at 2:30 p.m.
The tournament, which is scheduled from Tuesday through Friday, will air on ESPN+ from Joe Miller Field at Cowgirl Diamond on the McNeese campus. Tickets are available by visiting McNeeseSports.com or by calling the McNeese ticket office at (337) 562-4678.
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.
