HAMMOND, La. – Pinch runner
Britt Bourgoyne raced home on a sacrifice fly by
Bailey Krolczyk to give Southeastern Louisiana University a thrilling 5-4 walk-off victory over Louisiana Tech in nonconference softball action Wednesday evening at North Oak Park.
In a battle of unbeatens, Southeastern (4-0) rallied from a run down in the bottom of the seventh inning to rally past defending Conference USA champion Louisiana Tech (3-1).
Southeastern's late-inning heroics backed up a brilliant pitching performance by Lady Lion
KK Ladner (1-0). The Kiln, Mississippi native tossed 5.2 innings, allowing three hits, one run and striking out 11 batters – her career high at SLU.
"We showed a lot of fight tonight against a quality opponent," Southeastern head coach
Rick Fremin said. "KK was on fire all night and
Chyanne Ellett did a great job keeping us in the game, so we could get back to KK. Our offense was patient and our veterans were able to come through in the clutch. We played error-free defense again, so overall I'm very pleased."
Madison Rayner hit her second home run of the season and drove in two runs, while
Lexi Johnson and
Colleen Kulivan each had two hits and an RBI for SLU. Southeastern finished with nine hits to five for the visiting Lady Techsters.
SLU jumped on top in the bottom of the first inning. After
Cam Goodman drew a leadoff walk, Rayner lined a one-out home run over the right centerfield fence to put Southeastern up, 2-0.
Ladner retired the first 10 batters she faced and struck out nine through five scoreless innings. However, Louisiana Tech chased her from the game in the sixth, then the Lady Techsters took the lead with consecutive two-run hits by Kylie Neel and Brooke Diaz to give LTU a 4-2 cushion.
Louisiana Tech could not add to its lead, as Krolczyk threw a laser to pick off Diaz at second, then Ellett struck out Katelin Cooper to keep the deficit at two.
Southeastern cut into the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning with a two-out rally.
Maddie Leal sliced a double inside the left field line, then scored on an RBI single by Kulivan to pull SLU within, 4-3.
Louisiana Tech seemed poised to plate insurance runs in the seventh, loading the bases with one out to chase Ellett from the game. Ladner came back in and struck out Sierra Sacco and Amanda Gonzalez to keep Southeastern in striking distance.
With one out in the seventh, Rayner flared a single down the left field line off LTU reliever Brook Melnychuk (1-1). Three pitches later, Johnson came inches from ending the game, tripling off the top of the centerfield fence to score pinch runner
McKayla Ferguson.
That brought up Krolczyk, one of five preseason All-Southland Conference selections on the Lady Lion squad. The Corpus Christi, Texas native lined a shot that Cooper had to leap to grab in left. Bourgoyne raced home with the winning run, as Cooper's throw home was well off the mark.
Wednesday's game closed out a season-opening four-game home stand for SLU. Southeastern opens a stretch of 21 games away from home this weekend, when it heads to Youngsville, Louisiana to compete in the Mardi Gras Mambo. The Lady Lions face Manhattan (2 p.m.) and Toledo (4 p.m.) Friday, Gardner-Webb (3 p.m.) and St. Thomas (5 p.m.) Saturday and Florida A&M Sunday at 11 a.m.
"We're looking forward to the Mardi Gras Mambo, as the staff at the Youngsville Sports Complex do an outstanding job hosting this event," Fremin commented. "As we have this stretch of a month away from home, we have to keep our team healthy and figure out the right combinations for each game."
Live stats for this week's Mardi Gras Mambo contests will be available 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.
