HAMMOND, La. – A veteran Southeastern Louisiana University softball roster will officially open spring practice Friday with the 2024 season opener less than a month away.
 
A year after setting a new single-season school record with 47 victories, head coach Rick Fremin's Lady Lion squad returns 13 letterwinners, including eight positional starters, from its record setting-season. Eight of the returners have All-Southland Conference or All-Louisiana awards on their resumes.
 
"We're excited to be back at it together," Fremin commented. "We've been very successful on the field over the past two years and we hope that continues. We're thankful to return a core group that has a lot of Southland Conference experience. As far as players understanding and buying into our system and consistently doing the things we've asked, this is as good of a situation we've had heading into the season during my tenure."
 
SLU returns the top seven hitters for average from a lineup that hit .314 and set team school records for runs (353), hits (488), doubles (92), triples (23), RBI (305) and total bases (742).
 
SLC Player and Hitter of the Year Bailey Krolczyk (.379, 10 HR, 50 RBI, 18 2B in 2023) is back, along with fellow first team all-conference honorees Lexi Johnson (.337, 9 HR, 45 RBI, 10 2B, 5 3B) and Audrey Greely (.336, 6 HR, 31 RBI, 9 2B, 16 SB). Starting outfielders Ka'Lyn Watson (.336, 2 HR, 21 RBI, 5 3B, 19 SB) and Cam Goodman (.307, 32 BB, 32 SB), as well as the starting left side of the infield in Maria Detillier (.333, 5 HR, 31 RBI, 17 SB, 9 2B) and Maddie Watson (.267, 4 HR, 30 RBI) also return.
 
Freshman infielder Chloe Magee, as well as junior college products Faith Kivett and Ariel Gomez are among the new faces expected to bolster the SLU offensive firepower.
 
"We have some proven performers that need to continue being who they are and we'll continue to be productive," Fremin said. "We have a lot of talent and we're expecting our overall team speed to be where we're accustomed to after a little bit of a downturn in that category last season. We believe our offense can be dangerous in a variety of ways and we hope to pair it with our best defensive group that we've had here during my time. We expect to be a well-balanced team."
 
Southeastern will be replacing All-Southland ace and 2023 senior KK Ladner (15-2, 1.92 ERA) in the circle, but return All-Louisiana pitcher Cera Blanchard (17-7, 2.45 ERA), as well as seniors Mary-Cathryn (MC) Comeaux (8-4, 2.64 ERA, four saves), who has a 33-13 career record at SLU and Ellie DuBois (3-0, 3.03 ERA, two saves), the program's all-time career leader with 10 saves. Junior college products Chloe Bennett and Allison Brunson should have an immediate impact with their additions to the staff.
 
"KK won a lot of games for us last year and had a great postseason run, so she'll definitely be tough to replace," Fremin commented. "We feel really good about our pitching staff and the experience they have. Our returners all have proven track records and our two junior college additions have plenty of big-game experience. We battled some injuries in the fall, but we're back healthy heading into the season."
 
Southeastern will open the season by competing in the Mardi Gras Mambo Feb. 9-11 in Youngsville, Louisiana in the first of four nonconference tournaments on the schedule. SLU will host Syracuse, Maryland and Southeast Missouri for the 2024 Lion Classic Feb. 16-18 at North Oak Park, while traveling to the Texas A&M Invitational Feb. 22-24 and the Ole Miss Classic March 1-3.
 
The Lady Lions' nonconference slate also includes visits from South Alabama (Feb. 20), Southern Miss (March 6), Jackson State (April 2) and Alcorn State (April 23). All but three of SLU's home games are scheduled to be televised on ESPN+. Southeastern will travel to Louisiana Tech (Feb. 14), ULM (March 20), Pacific (March 27-28), Santa Clara (March 29) and LSU (April 10).
 
"We have some stiff competition during our nonconference schedule," Fremin said. "We're looking forward to testing ourselves to prepare for Southland Conference play. We expect every team in the conference to be improved from last season, so we're going to have to raise our game as well to maintain our high standing or take the next step up."
 
SLU opens Southland Conference play, hosting UIW March 8-9. Other league foes visiting North Oak Park this spring include HCU (March 22-23), Northwestern State (April 12-13) and Lamar (April 26-27). In addition, the 2024 Southland Conference Softball Championships return to Hammond, America May 7-10.
 
The Lady Lions' road conference slate includes visits to Texas A&M-Commerce (March 15-16), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (April 5-6), Nicholls (April 19-20) and McNeese (May 3-4).
 
"We're excited to have the Southland Conference Tournament back on our campus," Fremin said. "We've added some chairback seating to our grandstand and a new video board is starting to be installed as we speak and we'll have some additional seating down the right field line in preparation for hosting that event. We're hoping to be playing our best ball of the season come the second week in May."
 
2024 Southeastern Softball Schedule
Feb. 9 | vs. Providence (Mardi Gras Mambo) | Youngsville, La. | 2 p.m.
Feb. 9 | vs. UT Arlington (Mardi Gras Mambo) | Youngsville, La. | 4 p.m.
Feb. 10 | vs. Montana (Mardi Gras Mambo) | Youngsville, La. | 3:30 p.m.
Feb. 10 | vs. North Dakota (Mardi Gras Mambo) | Youngsville, La. | 5:30 p.m.
Feb. 11 | vs. Green Bay (Mardi Gras Mambo) | Youngsville, La. | 11 a.m.
Feb. 14 | at Louisiana Tech | Ruston, La. | 5 p.m.
Feb. 16 | Syracuse (Lion Classic) | North Oak Park | 4 p.m.
Feb. 17 | Maryland (Lion Classic) | North Oak Park | 1 p.m.
Feb. 17 | Southeast Missouri (Lion Classic) | North Oak Park | 5 p.m.
Feb. 20 | South Alabama | North Oak Park | 5 p.m. | ESPN+
Feb. 22 | vs. UTSA (Texas A&M Invitational) | College Station, Texas | 11:30 a.m.
Feb. 22 | at Texas A&M (Texas A&M Invitational) | College Station, Texas | 5:15 p.m.
Feb. 23 | vs. St. Thomas (Texas A&M Invitational) | College Station, Texas | 11:30 a.m.
Feb. 23 | vs. North Dakota State (Texas A&M Invitational) | College Station, Texas | 2 p.m.
Feb. 24 | vs. St. Thomas (Texas A&M Invitational) | College Station, Texas | 9 a.m.
March 1 | vs. Kent State (Ole Miss Classic) | Oxford, Miss. | 10:30 a.m.
March 1 | at Ole Miss (Ole Miss Classic) | Oxford, Miss. | 3:30 p.m.
March 2 | vs. UAB (Ole Miss Classic) | Oxford, Miss. | 1 p.m.
March 2 | at Ole Miss (Ole Miss Classic) | Oxford, Miss. | 6 p.m.
March 3 | vs. Kent State (Ole Miss Classic) | Oxford, Miss. | 10 a.m.
March 6 | Southern Miss | North Oak Park | 6 p.m. | ESPN+
March 8 | UIW (DH) | North Oak Park | 4 p.m. | ESPN+*
March 9 | UIW | North Oak Park | Noon | ESPN+*
March 15 | at Texas A&M-Commerce (DH) | Commerce, Texas | 5 p.m.*
March 16 | at Texas A&M-Commerce | Commerce, Texas | Noon*
March 20 | at ULM | Monroe, La. | 6 p.m.
March 22 | HCU (DH) | North Oak Park | 4 p.m. | ESPN+*
March 23 | HCU | North Oak Park | Noon | ESPN+*
March 27 | at Pacific (DH) | Stockton, Calif. | 6 p.m.
March 28 | at Pacific | Stockton, Calif. | 6 p.m.
March 29 | at Santa Clara (DH) | Santa Clara, Calif. | 11 a.m.
April 2 | Jackson State (DH) | North Oak Park | 4 p.m. | ESPN+
April 5 | at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (DH) | Corpus Christi, Texas | Noon*
April 6 | at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi | Corpus Christi, Texas | Noon*
April 10 | at LSU | Baton Rouge | 6 p.m.
April 12 | Northwestern State (DH) | North Oak Park | 4 p.m. | ESPN+*
April 13 | Northwestern State | North Oak Park | Noon | ESPN+*
April 19 | at Nicholls (DH) | Thibodaux, La. | 4 p.m.*
April 20 | at Nicholls | Thibodaux, La. | Noon*
April 23 | Alcorn State (DH) | North Oak Park | 4 p.m. | ESPN+
April 26 | Lamar (DH) | North Oak Park | 4 p.m. | ESPN+*
April 27 | Lamar (Senior Day) | North Oak Park | Noon | ESPN+*
May 3 | at McNeese | Lake Charles, La. | 6 p.m.*
May 4 | at McNeese (DH) | Lake Charles, La. | 1 p.m.*
May 7-10 | Southland Conference Tournament | North Oak Park | TBA | ESPN+
 
Southeastern home events in bold | * - Southland Conference contest | All times Central
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Softball, follow @LionUpSoftball on X and Instagram, like /SLUathletics on Facebook.
 
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.
 
TICKETS
For ticket information, please contact the Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office at (985) 549-5466 or visit www.LionSports.net/tickets. Southeastern offers mobile ticketing as the primary source for securing tickets. All tickets will be available via e-mail in a PDF format for fans to download on their phone or print at home. Tickets can also be downloaded to Apple Wallet.
 
CLEAR BAG POLICY
Southeastern Athletics has a clear bag policy for all ticketed events. For more information on the clear bag policy, visit www.LionSports.net/clear.
 
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