HAMMOND, La. – The two-time reigning Southland Conference Tournament champion Southeastern Louisiana University softball team earned a 2-1 victory over Northwestern State to complete a SLC series sweep Saturday afternoon at North Oak Park.
SLU (26-9, 9-0 SLC) won its 12
th straight game, matching the longest winning streak in program history. The Demons fell to 14-18 overall and 4-5 in league action.
The pitcher's duel went the way of the Lady Lions, as
Cera Blanchard (9-1),
Haley Crawford and
Bre Clark combined to hold NSU to four hits.
Southeastern only had three hits off NSU ace Mattison Buster (12-8).
Brilee Ford,
Kailey Dixon and
Colleen Kulivan each had one hit.
Northwestern State took the lead in the top of the third inning, as a sacrifice fly by Brynn Daniel put the Demons on the board. Blanchard came in with the bases loaded and one out and promptly forced Riley Schwisow to hit into a double play to keep the deficit at 1-0.
Southeastern evened the game in the bottom of the third inning. Dixon and Kulivan opened the frame with consecutive singles, then
Shenita Tucker bunted them both into scoring position.
Shelby Morris grounded out, but the chopper allowed Dixon to score at knot the sore at 1-1.
Ford singled home pinch runner
Breezy Pantalion in the bottom of the fourth inning to give SLU the lead for good.
Northwestern State mounted one more threat in the sixth inning, loading the bases with two outs. Blanchard forced Sophia Livers to ground out to second to maintain the one-run advantage. The Metairie, Louisiana native then quickly retired NSU in order to complete the series sweep.
Southeastern will be back in action Tuesday, traveling to ULM for a 5 p.m. contest. Tuesday's game will be televised on ESPN+.
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.
