HAMMOND, La. – The 2026 Southland Conference regular champion and reigning two-time SLC Tournament champion Southeastern Louisiana University softball team split a pair of games Saturday at North Oak Park to advance to the finals of the SLC Hammond Bracket presented by North Oaks Health.
Southeastern (46-13) dropped a 2-1 heartbreaker in eight innings to Lamar (32-22) in Saturday's opener, before bouncing back to eliminate UIW (33-21), 6-4.
SLU advances to face Lamar at 1 p.m. For the Lions to advance to the Southland Conference final for the fifth straight season, Southeastern will have to beat the visiting Cardinals twice Sunday. Sunday's games will be televised on ESPN+.
Lamar's Sicily Windham broke a 1-1 tie with a solo home run in the top of the eighth inning off SLU's
Cera Blanchard (13-2).
Ka'Lyn Watson's solo home run was the lone run for the Lions in the loss.
Watson also homered in the nightcap, as she and
Colleen Kulivan each drove in a pair of runs. Southland Pitcher of the Year
Hallie Burns (20-4) went the distance for SLU, striking out eight and scattering four hits to move within one victory on the single-season school record.
Game One – Lamar 2, Southeastern 1 (8 Innings)
SLU struck first against LU starter Reagan Smith (14-5) in the bottom of the second inning. Watson ripped a shot off the left centerfield fence that ricocheted away from the Cardinal outfielder for the speedster from Missouri City, Texas to score on her second inside-the-park home run of the season.
Lamar took advantage of a SLU error in the top of the fifth inning to tie the score with an unearned run.
Blanchard and Smith matched zeroes until Windham hit the first pitch of extra innings over the left field fence to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead.
Southeastern loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth inning with no outs, but Smith recovered to retire
Chloe Magee,
Maria Detillier and
Cydnee Schneider in order to close out the win.
Game Two – Southeastern 6, UIW 4
Southeastern jumped all over UIW starter Jenny Robledo (6-5) in the bottom of the first inning. Schneider singled home the inning's first run, then scored later on the frame on a Cardinal error. Kulivan capped the frame's scoring with a two-run double to give SLU an early 4-0 lead.
Burns and UIW reliever Bella Mitchell held the respective lineups at bay until an RBI single by Dominique Guerra cut the Lion advantage to 4-1 in the top of the fifth inning.
Watson's second home run of the day – a two-run shot over the centerfield fence – pushed the Southeastern lead to 6-1 after five innings. A three-run home run by Madison Dorrow in the seventh cut into the final margin, but Burns recovered to retire Erin Perez to keep SLU alive.
North Oak Health Southland Conference Softball Championships – Hammond Bracket – North Oak Park – April 30-May 3, 2026 (All games on ESPN+)
Thursday, April 30
Game 1 – No. 5 Lamar 7, No. 4 UIW 5
Game 2 – No. 1 Southeastern 8, No. 8 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 0 (6 Innings)
Friday, May 1
Game 3 – UIW 9, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 0 (6 Innings) (Elimination game)
Saturday, May 2
Game 4 – Lamar 2, Southeastern 1 (8 Innings)
Game 5 – Southeastern 6, UIW 4 (Elimination Game)
Sunday, May 3
Game 6 – Lamar vs. Southeastern, 1 p.m.
Game 7 – Game 4 Winner, vs. Game 5 Winner, 1 p.m.
Game 7 is only necessary if Southeastern wins Game 6
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.
