Stephen F. Austin
Mcneese State
McNeese Drops SFA In Southland Tourney
5/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 13, 2010
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SAN MARCOS, Texas - McNeese State benefited from aggressive play early with a pair of first-inning runs, and Stephen F. Austin couldn't get untracked, as the Cowgirls took a 4-1 win over SFA Thursday on the opening day of the Southland Conference Tournament. The win is McNeese State's first against the Ladyjacks in Southland Tournament play and moves SFA to the loser's bracket in the double-elimination event.
With the defeat, the Ladyjacks fall to 28-19 on the year. SFA came into the tournament as the No. 1 overall seed after earning a share of its first-ever Southland Conference regular-season championship with a 20-10 league record. McNeese improved to 36-25 with its second win of the day. The fourth-seeded Cowgirls knocked off No. 5 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in Thursday's first game.
SFA will begin its trek through the bottom portion of the bracket Friday with an 11 a.m. game against No. 6 Nicholls. The Colonels dropped their first-round game against UT Arlington, 3-2, in 10 innings.
The Cowgirls took a one-run lead in the game's second at-bat and didn't look back. Claire Terracina led off with an infield single then stole second. The No. 2 batter, Lindsey Langner made the aggressive baserunning pay off with a base knock up the middle to score Terracina.
Liz Morvant moved Langner over with a sacrifice bunt, then she took third on a Molly Guidry infield single. Langner scored on fielder's choice off the bat of Heather Mosser, giving the Cowgirls a 2-0 edge.
SFA put up three base hits in the first three innings and left runners on second and third in both the first and third frames, but McNeese would add two more runs to its lead before the Ladyjacks could find the scoreboard.
Marissa Koetting led off the top of the fourth with an infield single, then Katie Shumaker reached on an error an out later. After a foul pop for the second out, Terracina ripped a double to left field, scoring Koetting. SFA starter Monika Covington got a ground ball to escape the inning.
The Cowgirls added another run in the fifth. Morvant led off with a single to center, then stole second. Covington got a ground ball and a pop-up, but Koetting came through with a two-out single to left, scoring Morvant.
SFA's only offense came in the bottom of the fifth. Amber Price blasted a solo home run to left with one out, but the Ladyjacks couldn't get anything going behind her. Price would add a bunt single in the seventh to make her 3-for-3 on the day, but that was SFA's only hit in the final two innings. Bethany Brown and Jessica Arana had the only other base knocks for SFA.
Covington (14-11) was charged with three earned runs on 10 hits. She struck out seven.
-- SFA --
