HAMMOND – The Southeastern Louisiana softball team will close out its six-game home stand on Tuesday, hosting Mississippi State at 5 p.m. at North Oak Park.
Live stats and live video (LionVision subscription required) for the game between the Lady Lions (10-15) and the visiting Bulldogs (20-6) will be available at LionSports.net.
Tuesday will also feature the "Flood the Field" promotion, as the first 200 SLU students will receive a free t-shirt and students will receive free wings as available. Tuesday will also be a "Green Out" as all fans are encouraged to wear green.
SLU improved to 5-1 in Southland Conference play with a series sweep over Incarnate Word last weekend. The Lady Lions had timely hitting throughout the lineup and receive excellent pitching efforts by senior
Tori Stamper and junior
Taylor Bishop.
Southeastern enters Tuesday's game with a .303 team batting average. Junior outfielder
Katie Lacour leads the Southland Conference with a .472 batting average and 42 hits. Freshman third baseman
Sydney Booker (.342), freshman outfielder
Kinsey Nichols (.329), senior shortstop
Megan Moore (.308) and sophomore outfielder
Sloan Jenkins (.308) are the other top hitters for average. Junior designated player
Amber Sather leads the Southland with 19 walks and her 85 career walks are a school record.
Booker has been the team's top power threat, leading SLU with five home runs, 29 RBI and six doubles. She and Nichols also share the conference lead and rank seventh in the nation with four triples. Sather has also hit four home runs, while sophomore catcher
Lacey Fritz and senior second baseman
Vanessa Eng have three home runs apiece.
SLU has a 4.80 team earned run average entering Tuesday's contest. Bishop (6-3, 2.75 ERA), Stamper (2-2, 3.66 ERA) and freshman
Nicole Ayala (2-3, 4.93 ERA) have handled the majority of the work in the circle for the Lady Lions.
Southeastern will face a Mississippi State team that is hitting .325 as a team. Sophomore utility player Amanda Ivy leads the Bulldogs with a .383 batting average and 25 RBI, while sophomore Caroline Seitz has a team-high seven home runs.
One of Seitz's bombs came in the Bulldogs' 4-3 win over SLU on Feb. 19 in Starkville, Mississippi. SLU nearly rallied for a victory behind Booker's two-run home run.
Following Tuesday's contest, SLU will travel to Nacogdoches, Texas for a Southland Conference series at Stephen F. Austin. The series opens with a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Friday and closes with a 12 p.m. contest on Saturday.
