HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University softball team concluded the Lion Classic with a doubleheader sweep of Missouri State Sunday afternoon at North Oak Park.
SLU (3-0) remained undefeated on the young season with the two victories. Missouri State, the defending Missouri Valley Conference champion and a 2022 NCAA Tournament participant, fell to 0-4 overall with the two losses.
Southeastern opened the day with a 7-1 victory.
Lexi Johnson finished 4-for-4 with two RBI, while
Cam Goodman finished with three hits to fuel a 13-hit Southeastern attack. Goodman,
Madison Rayner and
Jillian Gutierrez each drove in runs for SLU.
Lady Lion pitchers
Ellie DuBois,
Chyanne Ellett (1-0), MC Comeaux and
Lainee Bailey combined to hold the Bears to four hits and struck out eight MSU batters.
Southeastern was even more dominant in an 8-0 run-rule victory in the nightcap.
Cera Blanchard (2-0) and
KK Ladner combined for the Lady Lions' first shutout of 2023.
Madison Rayner and
Maria Detillier each homered for SLU, while
Maddie Leal drove in a pair of runs. Johnson,
Maddie Watson and
Colleen Kulivan also added RBI in the win.
Southeastern head coach
Rick Fremin was pleased with what he saw from his squad on the opening weekend of his eighth season in Hammond.
"We're very pleased with the 3-0 start against a team that was in an NCAA regional last season," Fremin commented. "We were able to play 22 different players this weekend, so we were able to get a good gauge of what we need to work on moving forward."
Six different pitchers combined to hold Missouri State to two runs on the weekend. The SLU pitching staff allowed a .162 batting average to the Bears and left the tournament with a 0.70 team earned run average.
"Everyone on our staff did their job this weekend," Fremin said. "Any time we can hold a quality opponent to two runs in three games, we'll take it."
Southeastern will face another quality opponent Wednesday when reigning Conference USA regular season champion Louisiana Tech (3-0) visits North Oak Park for a 5 p.m. contest.
"Louisiana Tech is very well-coached and doesn't beat themselves," Fremin said. "We expect a great game between two talented in-state rivals."
Wednesday's game will air on ESPN+ and live stats will be accessible at
www.LionSports.net/sidearmstats/softball.
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Softball, follow @LionUpSoftball on Twitter and Instagram, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.
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.
CLEAR BAG POLICY
Southeastern Athletics instituted a clear bag policy for all ticketed events (softball, baseball, football and basketball), effective with the start of the 2018 football season. For more information on the clear bag policy, visit
www.LionSports.net/clear.
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