JOURNAL SPORTS
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Louisiana Tech’s 6-3 victory over Middle Tennessee on Sunday did more than just give the Lady Techsters the weekend Conference-USA softball sweep.
It also put Tech in a two-way tie with North Texas atop the C-USA standings with one week remaining. The Lady Techsters own the tiebreaker against the Mean Green after taking two out of three on the road in Denton a few weeks ago.
The Techsters (35-17, 15-6) have won 15 of their last 18 conference games. Audrey Pickett (23-5), who leads the conference in victories, went the distance in Sunday’s series finale, allowing three runs on just four hits and no walks with two strikeouts. Madie Green hit her team-leading 10th home run of the season in the victory.
Amanda Gonzalez led the Tech offense in games one and two, recording three hits in Friday’s 5-1 victory and four hits in Saturday’s 6-2 win. Gonzalez was one of four Techsters to have multiple hits in the series opener.
CENTENARY: In Irving, Texas, the Ladies saw their season end when they were eliminated from the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament after an 8-7 loss to St. Thomas (Texas) in their second elimination game on Saturday at the University of Dallas Softball Facility.
No. 6 seed Centenary (15-21, 7-14 SCAC) fell to third-seeded Trinity 7-0 in the first round on Friday to dip into the elimination round. The Ladies defeated Schreiner 8-5 in Saturday’s first elimination game before falling to St. Thomas.
BOSSIER PARISH CC: The Lady Cavaliers swept Navarro College 4-1 and 5-2 in a non-conference doubleheader on Saturday. Haylee Ladner hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning of game one to break a 1-1 tie. Primrose Aholelei gave up one run on three hits and no walks. In game two, Alohilani Napalapalai gave up three hits in four innings and went 2-for-2 at the plate with one home run.
LSU: The No. 19 Lady Tigers (32-19, 11-10 SEC) fell in their conference finale against No. 10 Florida (38-13, 13-11 SEC) 2-1 in nine innings Sunday at Tiger Park. With the loss, LSU dropped the weekend series 2-1 to the Lady Gators.
In game one on Friday, every LSU player in the lineup had a hit and four players had multiple hits as the Lady Tigers amassed 17 hits in their 9-1 victory over Florida in six innings. LSU had just two hits in Saturday’s 6-1 loss on Saturday. Shelbi Sunseri’s home run in the bottom of the seventh gave LSU its only run.
GRAMBLING: The Lady Tigers (21-22, 8-13 SWAC) were swept in their three-game Southwestern Athletic Conference series by Prairie View A&M over the weekend. Grambling had just two hits in the five-inning, 9-0 loss in game one on Friday followed by 7-3 and 4-2 losses in Saturday’s doubleheader.
ULM: After dropping their first two games in their Sun Belt Conference series against Georgia State in Atlanta, the Lady Warhawks (26-23, 10-14 Sun Belt) came back to win Sunday’s series finale 7-0. Kelsey Giddens hit her first home run of the season with two players on base to give ULM its first three runs. Kinsey Kackley (9-8) pitched a complete-game shutout.
The Warhawks got just four hits in their 3-0 loss in game one on Friday. In game two on Saturday, ULM rallied to tie the game in the top of the sixth inning but fell 3-2. Kennedy Johnson went 2-for-3 with two runs for the Warhawks.
NORTHWESTERN STATE: After an open week, the Lady Demons (28-17, 10-5 Southland) will be at Southeastern Louisiana for a three-game Southland Conference series this weekend to close the regular season and prepare for the SLC tournament May 10-13 in Hammond.
File photo by DARRELL JAMES