JOURNAL STAFF
RUSTON – After winning the first two games of their Conference USA softball series against Southern Miss, it looked like Louisiana Tech would come up short in the attempt to sweep the Golden Eagles – a victory that would give them the 2022 C-USA regular-season title.
In Game Three on Sunday, Tech went into the bottom of the seventh inning trailing 7-3 before rallying for a five-run, walk-off victory to complete the sweep. After scoring two runs to narrow the deficit to 7-5, Tech got the victory when Kate Cooper tripled to clear the bases and guarantee the Techsters (38-18, 18-6 C-USA) the championship.
Madie Green drove home the lone run of the game in Friday’s 1-0 series-opening victory and followed with a grand slam to cap a five-run first inning in Tech’s 6-1 win on Saturday.
Tech travels to Denton, Texas, for the double-elimination C-USA Tournament that will be held Wednesday-Saturday. The regular-season champs get two byes and begin play Thursday at 2:30 against either No. 8 UTSA, No. 5 Florida Atlantic or No. 4 Marshall, with an NCAA Tournament berth going to the tourney champ.
NORTHWESTERN STATE: In Hammond, the Lady Demons (28-20, 10-8 SLC) were hoping for a strong finish to the regular season before opening play in the Southland Conference Tournament there this week. Unfortunately, so was Southeastern Louisiana (37-14, 14-4 SLC) as the host Lady Lions swept the conference series.
SLU took both games of Friday’s doubleheader, 7-3 and 8-0, to remove NSU from contention for either of the top two seeds in this week’s Southland Conference Tournament, which will be held Tuesday-Friday at North Oak Park in Hammond. The No. 4-seeded Lady Demons will meet Incarnate Word (15-34, 5-13) in the first round at noon on Tuesday.
The Lady Demons got their only run in Saturday’s 6-1 loss with back-to-back extra-base hits from Taylor Williams (triple) and Tristin Court (double),
LSU: In Starkville, Miss., the Lady Tigers (34-20, 13-11 SEC) fell just short of the Southeastern Conference sweep of Mississippi State (32-23, 10-14 SEC) as the Lady Bulldogs came back from a 5-0 deficit to claim game three 6-5 on Sunday afternoon. After taking the series opener 7-2 on Friday, LSU clinched the series with a 9-2 victory on Saturday.
LSU will turn around and face Mississippi State again at 11 a.m. on Wednesday in the first round of the SEC Tournament, which starts Tuesday and runs through Saturday in Gainesville, Fla. Tuesday-Thursday’s games can be seen on the SEC Network while Friday and Saturday’s games will be televised on ESPN2.
ULM: The Lady Warhawks (27-26, 10-17 Sun Belt) closed out the regular season by dropping all three games in their conference series to No. 22 La.-Lafayette (41-11, 23-4) at home over the weekend. ULM will meet Coastal Carolina (21-27, 7-17) on Tuesday in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference tournament in Mobile, Ala.
The Ragin’ Cajuns took both games of Saturday’s doubleheader by identical 10-3 scores. ULM had 12 combined hits, 11 of which were singles, with one home run, and left six runners stranded in each game. Victoria Abrams (7-9), who started and went 3.1 innings in both games, was tagged with both of Saturday’s losses.
The Ragin’ Cajuns started scoring early in Friday’s series opener and didn’t stop until taking a 14-1 run-rule decision in five innings over the Warhawks. ULM, whose only hit came in the fifth inning, scored in the fourth inning as two walks and then two wild pitches allowed pinch runner Caley McGuff to cross home.
GRAMBLING: The Lady Tigers (24-22, 11-13 SWAC) meet Alabama State (20-29, 12-12) at 9 a.m. on Tuesday in the first round of the double-elimination Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament in Gulfport, Miss.
BOSSIER PARISH CC: The Lady Cavaliers open play this week in the National Junior College Athletic Association Region XIV tournament, to be held Friday, May 13-Monday, April 16 in San Jacinto, Texas. They take a 40-10 overall and 22-2 regional record into the double-elimination tournament.
Photo: by DARRELL JAMES, Louisiana Tech