HAMMOND, La. – The two-time reigning Southland Conference Tournament champion Southeastern Louisiana University softball team pulled away for a 13-3 Southland Conference victory over HCU Saturday afternoon at North Oak Park.
SLU (22-9, 6-0 SLC) broke open a close game with a nine-run fourth inning on the way to its eighth straight victory and second straight series sweep to open Southland play. The Lady Lions finished with 10 hits in the victory over HCU (4-21, 1-5 SLC), extending their streak of double-digit hit games to eight.
Brilee Ford hit a grand slam and drove in five runs in the victory, while
Shelby Morris and
Colleen Kulivan added two hits each.
Tyler Oubre,
Haley Crawford,
Hallie Burns (7-3) and
Cera Blanchard combined to hold HCU to two hits in the win. SLU pitching allowed just four hits to the Huskies in the series.
Morris led off the bottom of the first inning with a triple in the left centerfield gap and scored on a sacrifice fly by
Chloe Magee to give SLU an early 1-0 lead. However, an error and three walks led to HCU taking a 3-1 advantage in the top of the second inning.
Southeastern took advantage of two HCU errors to tie the score in the bottom of the third, then Ford drew a bases loaded walk to force in the go-ahead run.
SLU blew the game open in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Shenita Tucker, Morris and
Blair Walsh drove in the first three runs of the inning, then with the bases loaded, Ford powered her fourth home run of the season to stretch the lead to 11-3. An RBI triple by Kulivan and an RBI single by
Katherine Thiessen gave the Lady Lions a 13-3 cushion after a nine-run frame that saw 13 Southeastern batters come to the plate.
Blanchard worked around a leadoff single to secure SLU's fifth straight mercy-rule victory.
Following this week's series, Southeastern will welcome Jackson State for a 5 p.m. contest next Tuesday at North Oak Park. Tuesday will be Superhero Night, as fans are encouraged to wear their favorite super hero gear. It will also be Faculty and Staff night at North Oak Park, as all Southeastern faculty and staff will receive free admission by presenting their SLU ID at the front entrance. Fans can also bring non-perishable food items to Tuesday's game to donate as part of the Southeastern Food Pantry drive.
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.
