HAMMOND, La. – The No. 2 seed Southeastern Louisiana University softball team won the 2025 Southland Conference Softball Championships Hammond Bracket presented by GeoSurfaces with a 4-3 victory over third-seeded Nicholls Saturday afternoon at North Oak Park.
With the bracket victory, Southeastern (46-13) punches its ticket to the best-of-three Southland Conference Championship Series. If top-seeded McNeese wins the Lake Charles bracket, SLU would head to the Cowgirls. If either Lamar or UIW come back to take the bracket, Southeastern would play host to either of the Cardinals at North Oak Park.
SLU ran through the Hammond bracket unscathed and earned one victory over each of the other three squads that visited Hammond. With the wins, the reigning SLC Tournament champion Lady Lions advance to the conference tournament championship game/series for the fourth straight season.
"This was a great bracket with some very competitive games throughout," Southeastern head coach
Rick Fremin said. "We executed our game plan well each time out this weekend. Our pitching staff stepped up for us this week and we'd like to give kudos to our fans who gave us outstanding support throughout the weekend."
Maria Detillier drove in three runs for Southeastern in Saturday's win, while
Brilee Ford continued an excellent postseason with a pair of hits.
Kailey Dixon added an RBI to an eight-hit attack.
Southland Newcomer of the Year
Macie LaRue (19-2) earned the win in the circle for SLU, allowing just three hits in 5.1 innings of relief.
"We've had different pitchers step up in the back half of the season, whether it was Macie,
Britney Lewinski,
Hallie Burns or
Lainee Bailey," Fremin commented. "Macie threw a heck of a game yesterday versus SFA and for her to come back today and do what she did against a very good Nicholls lineup, we're very pleased with her efforts.
"Brilee (Ford) has been working on some things offensively and she came through with consistent quality at-bats," Fremin added. "Maria does such a good job staying through the ball and those three RBI today were huge."
Nicholls, which rolled to an 11-1 victory over SFA earlier in the day to stave off elimination, jumped out to a 2-0 lead versus Lewinski in the top of the second inning. Laylin Sturm beat on an infield single to plate the first run, then Lewinski hit Claire Sisco with the bases loaded to force in another run and chase Lewinski from the contest. A nice play by
Chloe Magee took a hit away from Nicholls' Erin Krause and allowed SLU to keep the deficit at 3-2.
Nicholls starter Averi Paden (10-7) retired the first six Lady Lion batters before SLU broke through in the bottom of the third inning.
Colleen Kulivan opened the inning with a triple into the right centerfield gap, scoring when Dixon followed with an RBI single.
A
Shenita Tucker walk and a
Shelby Morris bunt single loaded the bases. With one out, Detillier hit a grounder that resulted in Magee being retired at second. Tucker easily scored the tying run and Morris never stopped running from second and slid under a late throw to give SLU a 3-2 lead.
A Krause single, followed by LaRue hitting Molly Vandenbout put a pair of runners on in the fifth inning with one out for the Colonels. LaRue would recover to retire Reagan Helfin and Brynne Songy to maintain the Southeastern lead.
The Lady Lions added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth inning. Magee beat out a bunt single, then scored later in the frame on an RBI single by Detillier to give SLU a 4-2 lead.
Southeastern would need the insurance run, as Nicholls mounted one last threat with two outs in the top of the seventh. VandenBout followed a Krause single with an RBI double into the left field corner to cut the Lady Lion lead in half. However, on the next pitch, LaRue forced Heflin to fly out to center to end the Colonels' comeback hopes.
All of the games of the Southland Conference Softball Championship Series will be televised on ESPN+.
2025 Southland Conference Softball Championships Hammond Bracket Presented by GeoSurfaces | May 1-4 | North Oak Park
Thursday, May 1
Game 1 – No. 6 SFA 7, No. 3 Nicholls 4
Game 2 – No. 2 Southeastern 4, No. 7 HCU 3
Friday, May 2
Game 3 – Nicholls 4, HCU 0 (HCU eliminated)
Game 4 – Southeastern 7, SFA 3
Saturday, May 3
Game 5 – Nicholls 11, SFA 1 (5 innings) (SFA eliminated)
Game 6 – Southeastern 4, Nicholls 3 (Nicholls eliminated)
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.
